The
European Space Agency have enthusiastically provided resources, exhibits and
manpower during the production of Space Academy for Valencia.
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.
To
view a 20
second clip click here
Please
return to this site next week to download and play a short clip from the film.