Paper Session III-B - Space Station On-Orbit Assembly and Operation

The United States and its international partners are well on the way to developing Space Station Freedom which will be a very large orbiting facility with many capabilities for conducting space operations. Adjustments in the program content and station design have been implemented as a result of the recent restructure activity. This paper addresses the assembly and operations aspects of SSF. Assembly is achieved by sequential shuttle launches which carry portions of the station building the capability through the Manned Tended Capability and then on to Permanent Manned Capability. The pre-integrated truss segment resulting from the program restructure activity is shown and assembly techniques using the orbiter described. Both pay load and station operations are examined. The pay load operations include the conduct of materials processing and life science missions. These rely heavily on the microgravity capability of the Space Station. Station operations examined include EVA for assembly and maintenance and reboost techniques