On November 20, 1998, the first piece of the International Space Station launched into orbit.
The 42,000-pound module is called Zarya, and it's about the size of a tour bus. Zarya launched on board a Russian Proton rocket. Two weeks later, the STS-88 shuttle mission brought the Unity module into space. The STS-88 astronauts connected the two modules in orbit. Zarya was built by the Russians, but it was paid for by the United States. NASA contracted a Russian company to build it for half the price of what the American company Lockheed Martin would have charged. These days, Zarya is mainly used for storage and for external fuel tanks. The module also has docking ports for Russian Progress cargo ships and Soyuz spacecraft that carry crews to and from the space station. Today, the International Space Station is about the size of a football field and typically hosts up to six crewmembers. But back then, it was a pretty tight squeeze.
The 42,000-pound module is called Zarya, and it's about the size of a tour bus. Zarya launched on board a Russian Proton rocket. Two weeks later, the STS-88 shuttle mission brought the Unity module into space. The STS-88 astronauts connected the two modules in orbit. Zarya was built by the Russians, but it was paid for by the United States. NASA contracted a Russian company to build it for half the price of what the American company Lockheed Martin would have charged. These days, Zarya is mainly used for storage and for external fuel tanks. The module also has docking ports for Russian Progress cargo ships and Soyuz spacecraft that carry crews to and from the space station. Today, the International Space Station is about the size of a football field and typically hosts up to six crewmembers. But back then, it was a pretty tight squeeze.
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00:00On this day in space.
00:04On November 20th, 1998, the first piece of the International Space Station
00:08launched into orbit. The 42,000 pound module is called
00:12Zarya, and it's about the size of a tour bus. Zarya launched aboard a Russian
00:16proton rocket. Two weeks later, the STS-88 shuttle mission brought
00:20the Unity module into space. The STS-88 astronauts connected
00:24the two modules in orbit. Zarya was built by the Russians, but it
00:28was paid for by the United States. NASA contracted a Russian company to
00:32build it for half the price of what the American company Lockheed Martin would have charged.
00:36These days, Zarya is mainly used for storage and for external fuel
00:40tanks. The module also has docking ports for Russian Progress cargo
00:44ships and Soyuz spacecraft that carry crews to and from the space station.
00:48Today, the International Space Station is about the size of a football field, and
00:52typically hosts up to six crew members. But back then, it was a pretty tight
00:56squeeze. And that's what happened on this day in space.
01:00Music
01:04Music