The space shuttle Discovery docked successfully with the International Space Station (ISS) at 1442 EDT on Sunday, one day later than scheduled. The launch had been delayed due to bad weather.
The 11th shuttle mission to the International Space Station, Discovery carries seven astronauts as well as a module called Leonardo, packed with 40 new science experiments. Three of the shuttle鈥檚 crew will remain on the ISS, replacing the station鈥檚 current team.
NASA has billed Discovery鈥檚 launch as the start of a mission dedicated to scientific research. But critics claim the relatively small ISS crew will limit research on the outpost.
Advertisement
Keith Cowing, editor of NASAwatch.com, told 麻豆传媒: 鈥淭he station could be doing a lot of science, but it is not. I think the astronauts will be able to perform no more than a few hours鈥� research a week.鈥�
Remote control
Cowing suggests that the three astronauts aboard the ISS will be almost entirely occupied by routine engineering work during their stay. He also claims that the station鈥檚 overall scientific objectives have narrowed since its conception. The station crew is unlikely to increase soon because NASA ditched plans for a seven-man escape capsule in 2000.
Research aboard the ISS is further threatened by proposed budget cuts. Following an overrun of $4.8bn, NASA recently said that it will cut money for research at the outpost by $1bn.
Scientists on the ground defend the station鈥檚 experiments. Oliver Minster, head of the ISS Utilisation and Microgravity Department at the European Space Agency points out that many experiments can be monitored remotely and claims that the ISS already produces as much valuable research information as many research institutes on Earth.
鈥淔or the time being the priority is to build the space station,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut by 2004, we expect a major increment in research.鈥�
Crystal clear
When complete, the ISS should house six laboratory modules and carry out hundreds of experiments. It would be the most advanced research facility ever place in orbit, but Cowing says that this future is uncertain given the budget announcement. 鈥淐learly all the money NASA wants isn鈥檛 going to be there,鈥� he says.
The new experiments on board Leonardo include a project to grow ovarian cancer cells in microgravity, in order to gain insight into the way these cells harm the human body. Protein crystals will also be grown. Other projects include a bioreactor to study cell interactions and an experiment to look at how paints, milk and ink blobs behave in space.
A new high-definition camera is due to arrive during the new resident crew鈥檚 stay. This will provide high-resolution images of the astronauts鈥� activity for NASA and a commercial partner.