Partnerships: International Collaboration in Low-Earth Orbit and Beyond

By Craig Collins - February 27, 2019

STS-131 and Expedition 23 crewmembers gathered for a group portrait in the Kibo laboratory of the International Space Station while Space Shuttle Discovery remained docked with the station. STS-131 crewmembers pictured (light blue shirts) are NASA astronauts Alan Poindexter, commander; James P. Dutton Jr., pilot; and Clayton Anderson, Rick Mastracchio, Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, Stephanie Wilson, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Naoko Yamazaki, all mission specialists. Expedition 23 crewmembers pictured are Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kotov, commander, and Mikhail Kornienko and Alexander Skvortsov; Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi; and NASA astronauts T.J. Creamer and Tracy Caldwell Dyson, all flight engineers. NASA photo

Despite their intense Cold War rivalry, Russia and the United States began collaborating peacefully in space in 1975 with the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, during which the Apollo Command/Service Module docked with a Soyuz spacecraft in orbit. The Shuttle-Mir program of the 1990s paved the way for collaboration on the ISS; the APAS-95 docking port developed to allow the Space Shuttle to berth with Mir is the same port used on the ISS to join Russian modules with American modules, as well as with other components and vehicles.

Russia laid the foundation for the ISS with the 1998 launch of Zarya, the Functional Cargo Block (FGB). The FGB is based on the first Soviet/Russian military space station design – Almaz – in the 1960s, the equivalent of the canceled U.S. DOD Manned Orbiting Laboratory. The design was later used for cargo resupply ships for Salyut 6 and 7, and then for modules on Mir. Zarya provided a self-contained center for power supply, communications, and attitude control; today the FGB is used primarily for storage and propellant storage. The Zvezda Service Module provided early living quarters and life support for ISS crewmembers, electrical power distribution, data processing, flight control, and propulsion. Zvezda, added in 2000, remains the structural and functional center of the Russian Orbital Segment of the ISS, capable of supporting up to six crewmembers, with separate sleeping quarters for two, exercise equipment, a toilet and other hygiene facilities, and a galley with a refrigerator and freezer. Zvezda has three docking ports at its forward end.

The pressurized docking compartment, Pirs, attaches to Zvezda’s nadir port. It provides a port for the docking of Soyuz and Progress vehicles and a staging area and hatch for spacewalks from the Russian segment. Pirs is equipped with an antenna for docking navigation and a manipulator boom for moving crew and cargo.

The Expedition Six crewmembers, wearing Russian Sokol suits, pose for a crew photo in the Functional Cargo Block (FGB), or Zarya, on the International Space Station (ISS). Pictured are astronaut Donald R. Pettit (front), NASA ISS science officer; cosmonaut Nikolai M. Budarin (left back), flight engineer; and astronaut Kenneth D. Bowersox, mission commander. NASA photo

The Poisk, or Mini-Research Module 2 (MRM2), is a near-twin to the Pirs module, attached to the zenith port of Zvezda. It provides spacewalk capability, a docking port for spacecraft, and additional space for scientific experiments, including power supply and data nodes for five external workstations. Three temporary internal workstations are located near the module’s windows.

Rassvet, or Mini-Research Module 1 (MRM1), is docked to the nadir port of Zarya. Used primarily for cargo storage and as a docking port for visiting spacecraft, Rassvet, added to the ISS in 2010, is also equipped with eight internal workstations to enable service as a mini research laboratory. The exterior of Rassvet is outfitted to receive additional ISS components, including the European Robotic Arm (ERA) and Nauka, the Russian Multipurpose Laboratory Module.

Russia laid the foundation for the ISS with the 1998 launch of Zarya, the Functional Cargo Block (FGB).

Both Russian-built spacecraft – the crewed three-person Soyuz capsule and the unpiloted Progress cargo carrier – are launched on Soyuz rockets from Baikonur Cosmodrome in southern Kazakhstan. Baikonur is the chief launch center for both vehicles; the Zarya and Zvezda were launched aboard more powerful Proton rockets from Baikonur.

Backdropped by the blackness of space, the Soyuz TMA-14 spacecraft departs from the International Space Station carrying Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, Expedition 19/20 commander and Soyuz commander; NASA astronaut Michael Barratt, flight engineer; and spaceflight participant Guy Laliberté. The Soyuz and Progress spacecraft have been vital to ISS operations. NASA photo

The Soyuz spacecraft, which have been upgraded periodically since their first use in the mid-1960s, have been the ISS’s most reliable workhorses, capable of docking automatically with the station and remaining docked for up to 220 days. The Soyuz has been the only crewed spacecraft to visit the ISS since the end of the U.S. Space Shuttle Program in 2011.

In a typical year, the ISS is visited by three to four Progress spacecraft, resupply vehicles used to deliver dry cargo, propellant, water, and gas. Progress can either dock autonomously or be docked remotely by ISS crewmembers. Like the HTV and ATV, Progress is an expendable vehicle that is deorbited after service and incinerated on re-entry.