ISS Completes 100,000th Orbit of Earth (phys.org)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Phys.Org: The International Space Station, the space laboratory that showcases cooperation between Russia and the United States, on Monday orbited Earth for the 100,000th time, Russian mission control said. Traveling at an altitude of about 250 miles (400 kilometers) and a speed of about 17,500 miles (28,000 kilometers) per hour, the space station circles the Earth once every 90 minutes. The ISS has now traveled 2.6 billion miles "or about the distance of 10 round trips to Mars," NASA said on the station's official Twitter feed. From two modules, it has grown to 15 modules, occupying a space the size of a football pitch and represents around $100 billion in investment. "Such a long lifespan of the ISS proves that mankind has the necessary technologies for constant presence in orbit, that we have the potential for further space exploration," said Matyushin.

Comments

the real question

[Anonymous Coward]

The real question is why the ISS matters at all. It's been an excessively expensive project to complete, curtailing NASA's ability to fund other missions. The orbit is highly inclined so it's less expensive for Russian spacecraft to reach it than it is for American spacecraft. A lot of the time is spent doing maintenance and construction instead of scientific research. While the US has found some research that can be conducted on the ISS, it's very limited with respect to the shuttle missions. The shuttles were extremely successful, though quite outdated at the end of their life cycles. The ISS really hasn't been that successful, but its costs have hindered NASA from carrying out other research and missions. Why does the ISS matter? Aside from exploring the long-term effects of spaceflight, very little.of value has come from the ISS, a particularly important point when taking into account the massive costs.