In The News:
- Boeing Provides and Processes Large Spare Parts for International Space Station
- Boeing and RSC-Energia Team to Develop Future Spacecraft Docking System
- Boeing Readies Kibo Lab Components for Shuttle Mission to Space Station
- Boeing Hardware to Bring International Space Station to Full Potential
- All News Releases
Overview
The ISS is the largest, most complex international scientific project in history and our largest adventure into space to date.
The completion of mission STS-119 in March 2009 included the successful installation of the Starboard-6 (S6) truss segment and final set of solar arrays. That mission marked the completion of the U.S. "core" of the station and delivered the last major U.S., Boeing-built element. The successful activation of the final set of solar arrays allowed the ISS the capability of full power utilization and doubled -- from 15 to 30 kilowatts -- the amount of power available for key science projects.
When completed around 2010, the ISS will be comprised of more than 100 major components carried aloft during 88 space flights to assemble the space station.
The ISS mission is:
- to conduct basic and applied research to support human exploration of space, and
- to take advantage of the space environment as a laboratory for research -- scientific, technological, and commercial.
Boeing's Role:
- As the prime contractor, responsible for design, development, construction and integration of the ISS.
- Directs a national industry team comprising most major U.S. aerospace companies, hundreds of small contractors, and Boeing itself.
- Integrates the work of participants from the 15 countries that have joined the U.S. to form the ISS team
- Built all of the major U.S. elements of the ISS.
- Assists NASA in operating the orbital outpost.
- Oversees thousands of subcontractors around the globe.
- Prepares every ISS U.S. component for space flight at the Space Station Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center, FL.
- Earned six consecutive 100 percent award fee score for on-orbit performance from NASA.
At completion:
- The ISS will be about four times as large as the Russian space station Mir, and about five times as large as the U.S. Skylab.
- The ISS solar array surface will be large enough to cover the U.S. Senate Chamber more than three times over.
- The ISS will manage 20 times as many signals as the Space Shuttle.
Boeing continues to play an integral part in the construction of the ISS, the most complex venture ever attempted in space.
For more information, read the International Space Station (ISS) (PDF) overview.
*If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader for reading PDF files, it is available for free from Adobe.
Contact Us
If you would like further information about our products or services, please contact Boeing Space Exploration at:
Adam Morgan
Space Exploration Communications (Houston)
The Boeing Company
(281) 226-4030
adam.k.morgan@boeing.com
