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All images from http://www.nasa.gov/ unless otherwise noted.

What is the International Space Station? (ISS)

• Science laboratory• Orbits the earth• 250 miles high• Astronauts take a shuttle

to come and go from the earth.

Who works on the ISS?• 16 countries have helped plan and construct

the ISS, including:

Canada

United States

Brazil

Russia

European Union Japan

How big is the ISS?

• Weight: 1 million pounds

• Size: Almost as big as a football field

How was the ISS built?

• Astronauts and robots have put together the ISS piece by piece from 1998 until today.

http://i.usatoday.net/tech/graphics/iss_timeline/flash.htm

http://www.astrophotographie.fr/

Can you see the ISS from Earth?• Yes! This is a picture of the ISS passing in front

of the moon.

What do they do on the ISS?

• Eat, sleep, play, and work!

• Astronauts on the ISS do scientific research.

• They answer questions such as the following…

How long can people live in space?

• Most astronauts stay on the ISS for 4-6 months.

• Living in “zero gravity” weakens people’s muscles.

• When astronauts come back to earth, they may be too weak to walk on their own.

What do fire and water look like in “zero gravity”?

• Fire doesn’t go up.

• Water doesn’t go down.

• Fire and water look like spheres in “zero gravity."

Flame on Earth Flame in “zero gravity”http://www.me.berkeley.edu/cpl/research/fist/fist.html

How can the ISS contribute to the good of humanity?

• ISS astronauts study many things to help people, including:

– Cures for disease (cancer)– How things grow in space (plants, animals, bacteria)– What the earth looks like during natural disasters– New types of materials and technology

How can the ISS have enough energy to power itself?

• Solar panels collect the sunlight.

• The panels convert the sun’s energy into electricity.

How do solar panels work?

http://www.eoearth.org/article/Photosynthesis

• Like plants collect the sun’s energy to grow, solar cells collect the sun’s energy to make electricity.

http://www.energypoweralternatives.com/alternative-energy/do-solar-panels-work-when-its-cloudy/

Use a solar cell.

• Shine the flashlight on the solar cell to see what happens!

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