T minus 5 days now. Until Space Shuttle Atlantis embarks towards the International Space Station. It is the first mission to resume construction of the ISS in nearly four years.
The ISS, a floating Taj Mahal in the sky. At a cost of over $100 billion, it is the most expensive construction project in human history.
But the next Shuttle mission to the ISS could be the last. As shown in this NASA link of the mission overview, there are concerns-
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link to www.nasa.gov]
"Already the largest spacecraft ever built, the addition of the two array wings is going to dramatically change the station’s appearance -- and balance. The responsibility for keeping it pointed in the right direction falls to Dye and his team in Mission Control. The computers should take care of it, but you can never be sure.
“You do the engineering and then you hope the engineering matches the real world when you get up there,” he said.
If the station did start to tilt, it can be righted. But any problems or hiccups that come up could throw off the mission’s entire timeline, Jett said. Adjusting the station’s orientation might require firing the shuttle’s engines, which would use up limited and valuable fuel."
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No doubt it will dramatically change the ISS appearance -- and balance. Here's a look at the ISS right now-
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link to www.nasa.gov]
Here's how it will look with the new piece-
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link to www.nasa.gov]
And then the oh so precious "limited and valuable fuel" that can be used to right and orientate the ISS if it did begin to tilt. There is the matter of the declining height of the ISS. Since the Shuttle Colombia burned up on reentry, the primary means to boost the height of the ISS has been out of commission. Basicly, the ISS has been coming down, down, and down for years, and is now at the lowest point since it's initial boosts into orbit-
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link to www.heavens-above.com]
The lower into the atmosphere, the higher the drag, the bigger the problem if things do "begin to tilt", the faster it comes down.
If things go awry, a little over a week from now, we could witness our $100 billion experiment, the most expensive construction project in history, come down in a ball of flames!