Why are Space Stations So Hard?

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Why are Space Stations So Hard?
Roger D. Launius National Air and Space
Museum Smithsonian Institution
September 8, 2005
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The Brick Moon

• Edward Everett Hale published Atlantic Monthly
  short story, 1869.
• Tell of a 200-foot sphere (built of bricks to
  "stand fire, very, very well") launched into a
  4,000 mile high orbit.
• Purpose was to provide a longitude fix for
  navigators who would see it as a bright star.
• Spinning fly-wheels throw the artificial moon
  into its correct orbital path.

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Tsiolkovskiys Space Station
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Hermann Noordungs Space Station
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Wernher von Braun/Colliers 1952 Concept
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Langleys Inflatable Concept
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2001 A Space Odyssey
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Salyut

• Seven Salyut Stations placed in orbit
• Program lasted between 1971 and 1986
• The Salyut 7 in Earth orbit with a Soyuz T ferry
  craft attached in mid-1980s

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Skylab
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Shuttle/Station Concepts
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Space Station Freedom
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Shuttle/Mir Missions
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International Space Station
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Space Tourism and Colonies?