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A space station is thought of as an orbital vehicle capable of supporting one or more humans for a long period of time. These generally lack the main propulsion, reentry and landing systems. These vehicles have docking ports to allow rendezvous and docking of other spacecraft for the purposes of crew transfer and refueling activities.
Most of the space stations were launched in connection with technological and scientific projects. Some military missions have also employed stations. Currently, only one fully operational and permanently inhabited space station is in low earth orbit and this is the 22-year-old International Space Station (ISS).
This station provides an orbiting facility to study the effects of space flight on the human body and to conduct a series of long-term scientific studies. China, India, Russia and the United States are planning other stations for the next few decades.
All previous space stations have been flown in orbits that cover most of the populated Earth. In other words, their orbits are inclined with respect to the equatorial plane. The ISS is in an orbit at 51.6 degrees from the equator.
This orbital inclination was selected to suit the constraints of the Russian launch site. Without Russian participation, the ISS’s orbit could have been tilted 28.4 degrees, the latitude of the US launch site at Cape Canaveral, FL. Unfortunately, the use of inclined orbits imposes some limitations on launch times and orbital operations.
Using an equatorial launch site would alleviate those constraints. For example, all spacecraft sent to the ISS have very narrow launch windows because take-off can only occur when the launch site passes through the plane of the ISS orbit.
If a scheduled launch window is missed, there is a day delay. A launch from an equatorial launch site to an equatorial space station can occur at any time because the launch site is always on the station floor. This geometric convenience also applies to reusable transport vehicles, i.e. the return will always bring the vehicle back to the equator.
A number of in-orbit operations can be simplified when operating in equatorial orbits. The maneuvering propellant is minimal because no aircraft changes are required for rendezvous and maintenance of the satellites.
Rescue operations can be conducted at any time. On the negative side, surveillance of the Earth’s surface is limited to regions close to the equator and launch operations would require an equatorial spaceport. However, there are important benefits to flights over the equator.
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NASA’s Commercial Crew program kicks off the renaissance of space flight
Los Angeles CA (SPX) November 16, 2020
After a successful prelude to the Demo-2 mission in May, NASA and its partner group will officially lift the curtain on the commercial crew program with the launch of Crew-1 this week. The manned program’s inaugural operational mission will send four astronauts to the International Space Station via SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Capsule and Falcon 9 launch vehicle. Their journey could be the first step in opening up space to countless others. During the Crew-1 mission, NASA astronauts Michael … read more
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