On 1 February, internet users will be able to follow a live video of the work of astronauts aboard the ISS.
1 February update: the live video of ISS activities has started. During the crews rest periods, the video stream will show pictures of the outside of the Station. The window below is retransmitting NASA’s live ISS video.
Since the launch of its first module in 1998 (Russian component Zarya), the International Space Station has grown in the most spectacular fashion as it has been assembled. Today, it is the biggest object ever constructed in orbit and the greatest of international co-operation agreements in space with its 14 partner countries: the United States, Canada, Japan, Russia and those united under the banner of the European Space Agency (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland).
Get the Station known The ISS actually comprises 3 research laboratories (the American Destiny, the European Columbus and the Japanese Kibo) and it can house a permanent crew of 6 astronauts. The current Expedition 22, however, only consists of 5 crew members, but the next one will have 6 astronauts. With the building-up of the Station and the end of its main assembly works scheduled for 2010, the agencies have also come to realise that the general public know little of this programme. More and more miscellaneous, interesting initiatives, often educational, have been carried out. For example, during the OasISS mission of ESA’s astronaut Frank De Winne in 2009, Frank and the Canadian Bob Thirsk answered questions from students in Spain, Belgium, Italy and Greece live (see video below).
Live from space There is no doubt that direct contact with the Station crews is able to create a feeling of proximity, capable of attracting the public’s interest. The success of the astronauts’ blogs and their Twitter accounts obviously proves this. Consequently, NASA has gone one step further and as of 1 February will be offering internet users the chance via live video to follow what is going on inside the Station. This flow of live images is to be transmitted via existing links between the ISS and the ground (links that sometimes use satellite relays). This means that it could be interrupted for a short period of time when the position of the Station in its orbit no longer makes such transmissions possible.
As of 1 February, a live video of the work of the astronauts aboard the Station is to be broadcast on the Internet. Here, Japanese Soichi Noguchi can be seen preparing a physical experiment involving fluids in the Kibo laboratory. Credit: NASA
The video is also to include vocal exchanges between the astronauts and the ground. It should be noted that this direct transmission will only concern the crews’ working hours, rest periods are to remain private. There is no question of it becoming a reality television show!
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