Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

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

Posted by BeauHD on from the significant-milestone dept.

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.

5 of 103 comments (clear)

  1. Track it here by willoughby · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If you want to check out the current location, this website is pretty good...

    http://www.isstracker.com/

  2. Or put another way by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    "The ISS has now travelled 2.6 billion miles 'or about the distance of 10 round trips to Mars' "

    Or for comparison, a single one-way trip to Neptune. Or 0.01016% of the way to Alpha Centauri.

  3. Re:Travelled... nowhere? by Xtifr · · Score: 3, Interesting

    the ISS hasn't travelled any farther in orbit than I've travelled on my treadmill.

    Do you imagine that it's in geosynchronous orbit? Like some comms satellites are? I assure you, it's not. I've looked up. I've seen it go by. From where I sit, it is most definitely traveling.

    Do you mean it goes around the Earth and ends up back where it started? That's true of most travelers. The ends-up-back-where-they-started bit, at least. Fewer will actually go all the way around the world to achieve that, but I don't think anyone would accept a claim that Phileas Fogg never traveled anywhere.

    Do you mean it's not traveling because it's falling? I'm sorry, but if you're up high enough and moving fast enough to fall all the way around the world, I think you're traveling. If I'm riding a bicycle downhill, I may essentially be falling, and not need to pedal at all, but I think most people would consider me to be traveling.)

  4. Re:the real question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Bingo !!

    The Apollo program was only 100 billion and considerably more significant.

  5. Re:the real question by Harlequin80 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    What are you comparing it to? How would you have spent the money differently? Personally even if it was just the research on long term exposure to microgravity I would have said it was worth it.

    The research around Osteoporosis that was conducted on the ISS can't be replicated anywhere else.