About Space Academy - Introduction Film

Our introduction film features Spain's first astronaut, Pedro Duque, who flew with John Glenn aboard shuttle Discovery on mission STS 95. In the script that follows he describes how the International Space Station is going to have an effect on all our lives.

Script

Hello! And welcome to the Valencia Space Academy. I'm Pedro Duque and it's been my privilege to be Spain's first professional astronaut.

I work for the European Space Agency. European astronauts fly either with the American or the Russian spaceships. In 1998 I was a flight engineer on Space Shuttle Discovery.

Together with my six fellow crewmembers I carried out many experiments into a new type of science - science in micro-gravity - the study of how familiar things like plants and fluids, metals and crystals behave when you take them away from the effect of the Earth's pull.

One of those astronauts was John Glenn, returning to space almost 37 years after he became the first American to orbit the Earth, to help us discover the effects of micro-gravity on the ageing process.

We learned a lot in many different areas of science, but after 10 days in orbit it was time to come home again. We wanted to stay longer, to learn more……and now we can.

In November '98 the first piece of a massive space station was launched. Already it's bigger than anything that's been in orbit before, but by the year 2006 it will be four times larger than the Russian MIR and weigh more than 450,000kgs. Go out into your garden on most nights and you'll clearly see it fly over your head, it's now the brightest star in the sky!

The International Space Station (or ISS) is the largest and most complex international scientific project in history. More than 50 space flights and at least four space vehicles;

the Space Shuttle, the Russian Soyuz, the Russian Proton and the European Ariane will deliver the various space station components to Earth orbit.

When it's complete the internal volume will be roughly equal to a 747 jumbo jet, with three main laboratories onboard.

…."Destiny" from America……. "Columbus" from Europe….and "Kibo" (Hope) from Japan.

Huge solar arrays will provide the power…. ….. and the sixteen participating nations will share the facilities and the costs of running them. When the ISS is completed an international crew of up to seven will live and work in space for up to six months each. Crew Return Vehicles will always be attached to the ISS to ensure the safe return of all crewmembers in the event of an emergency.

You know, life on Earth began about three billion years ago. In just twice that time from now the sun will burn out. If, by then, we haven't emigrated to a new home then mankind will come to an end.

Just as the ancient explorers found new lands we will need to find a new planet. Our future aim in the space programme is to be able to go anywhere at any time and whilst we're learning how to do that we're finding fabulous new ways of improving life on Earth.

New ways of fighting disease with drugs grown in micro-gravity, stronger and lighter materials to build safer buildings or vehicles, new ways of producing transport systems that don't use up fossil fuels. Artificial body parts like optical sensors for blind people, new bones and hearts. New ways of feeding the population explosion.

It's costing around two billion Euros a year to get the ISS up there and to keep it running efficiently but if you compare that to the ninety billion Euros that Europeans spent on tobacco last year, it seems to me that it's money well spent! Now I'm off to mission control from where I'll be able to communicate with you. If you make your way to our laboratory simulator, we'll continue the mission briefing.