How the most expensive structure in the world was built
The International Space Station is a masterpiece of engineering and human ingenuity. But this $100bn project has been beset by politics, compromise and tragedy. Richard Hollingham, who witnessed the launch of the first section of the station for the BBC in 1998, investigates how we ended up with the ISS.
In mission control rooms around the world in Houston, Moscow and Munich a daily reality TV show is played out on giant screens. It is the dullest reality show you will ever watch. There is no conflict or peril, little tension and certainly no romance. The best you can hope for is a view of an astronauts backside floating past the camera.
This is the reality of day-to-day life on the International Space Station (ISS): astronauts living and working together to strict timelines eating, sleeping, exercising, conducting scientific experiments and fixing the plumbing.
It may not be Apollo 13, but this is exactly the way the space agencies like it. Since the ISS was first permanently occupied in 2000, Russian, American, Japanese, Canadian and European astronauts have lived and worked together 400 kilometres (250 miles) above the Earth. One of the greatest triumphs of the ISS is to make space appear routine, boring even.
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http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20151221-how-the-most-expensive-structure-in-the-world-was-built