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- Since the 1960Æs NASA planners have envisioned placing a permanently manned
- laboratory in space. Early on it was decided to employ a shuttle to transport modular
- station units into orbit which could be assembled into a large complex - the modules being
- about 14 feet in diameter to fit in the shuttle bay. Studies on such modules led to the
- development of ESAÆs Spacelab, a research facility carried in the shuttle payload bay.
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- In a 1984 State of the Union address, President Ronald Reagan proposed the construction
- of space station Freedom, a facility intended for research in biology, materials processing,
- and observation of Earth and the cosmos. Soon after, it was announced that the
- European Space Agency (ESA) would participate in the project. Japan's National Space
- Development Agency also joined in developing this international station.
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- Orbiting 250 miles above the Earth, Freedom was to consist of four main modules
- attached to large solar arrays that would provide power. American modules were to be
- lifted into space by shuttles, while the European module would be boosted by an Ariane
- rocket. JapanÆs module was to be sent into orbit by a Japanese rocket similar to the H-2,
- but an American shuttle could have been used for the same purpose.
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- FreedomÆs habitation module would house a kitchen, wash room, exercise room, and
- medical office. This living area and one lab were to be from the USA. The Japanese
- Experimental Module (JEM) was to be accompanied by an exposed facility where
- experiments could be conducted outside in the vacuum of space. Columbus, the ESA
- module, was to be used for scientific research in microgravity and life sciences.
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- The space station was to have four permanent residents, astronauts of different nations
- free to work in any lab of the station. In the space station, the crew could work in shirt
- sleeves while performing scientific experiments and manufacturing special metal alloys and
- ceramics. Supplies could be brought up in U.S. shuttles or a European shuttle which
- could dock with the station at regular intervals.
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- The total cost of constructing Freedom was estimated to be $19.4 billion, even after being
- reduced in scope from earlier, more ambitious designs; it seemed likely that Congress
- would eliminate the project entirely. Fortunately, when American and Russian leaders
- agreed in 1993 to cooperate in creating an international space station employing the Mir
- complex as a foundation, the Freedom design found a means to realization - in the guise of
- the space station Alpha.
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