Preface
The Committee on the Space Station of the National Research Council, in considering space station engineering and design issues, found a need for a concise assessment of the capabilities of existing and planned space stations. This report attempts to meet that need by providing information and the important technical parameters for the major crewed space facilities with emphasis on the Mir Space Station and the International Space Station. Our intent is to provide a data source for easy reference that will enable initial comparisons of the adequacy of these systems to satisfy a complex and evolving set of users' expectations.
Compilation of the data for this report began just prior to the Space Station Freedom redesign with the primary goal of informing the community on the design and capabilities of the Mir and Freedom space stations. As the redesign was carried out by NASA, and after it resulted in the International Space Station, we continued to compile data to document the current designs as well as other existing and historical space platforms (e.g., the Space Shuttle with Spacelab, and Skylab). The committee believes that this summarization of information and parameters supporting space station capabilities will be helpful to those interested in understanding and utilizing the International Space Station.
Frank Lemkey
Chairman, Study on the Capabilities of Space Stations
A. Thomas Young
Chairman, Committee on the Space Station