All language subtitles for How.Did.They.Build.That.S04E01.Space.Stations.and.Super.1080p.FUBO.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-FFG_track3_[eng]

Today we’re stepping
into uncharted territory,

boldly going to check
out a construction project

that’s like nothing on Earth,

a structure so incredible,
it’s out of this world.

No, literally out of this world.

How do you construct humanity’s
greatest technical achievement

250 miles above the earth?

Would all these
things fit together

for the very first time
meeting in space?

Spoiler alert:
it doesn’t go per plan.

How do you convince Earth’s

brightest minds to dedicate
decades to its creation?

The number of people

involved worldwide
to make this a success...

It’s an engineering wonder.

How do you build it
when the technology

doesn’t even exist?

It’s all brand new
equipment being used

for the first time.

We had to deal with failure
after failure.

How do you get people

to live where
the risks are enormous?

It has to be perfect because it
has to sustain human life.

And so are the rewards.

It’s possible in the future
that we could be printing full

organs and transporting them
back to Earth.

Welcome to a world
where anything is possible.

The space where innovation
and creativity collide.

This isn’t just impressive.
It’s revolutionary.

Where the only limit
is human imagination.

This wasn’t just
ambitious. It was audacious.

No one had ever
attempted anything like it.

Unpacking the miracles
and mysteries of construction.

Sometimes buildings
can change the world.

And this is one of them.

To ask, How Did They Build Tha?

What am I talking about?

The International Space
Station, 250 miles up there,

traveling 17,500 miles an hour.

It’s an amazing achievement
with an incredible story.

It’s 1984

and President Ronald Reagan
has ambitions to conquer space.

The first is
a commitment to build

a permanently manned
space station,

to be in orbit around the Earth
within a decade.

It’ll be a base for many kinds
of scientific,

commercial,
and industrial activities,

and a stepping stone
for further goals.

But America won’t be
taking this giant step alone.

International
cooperation has long been

a guiding principle of
the United States space progra.

Our friends and allies

will be invited to join with us
in the Space Station project.

Three, two, one,
zero... All engines running.

The International Space Station
became fully operational

on May 19th, 2011, but its story
begins many years earlier,

back in time
and down here on Earth.

The idea of building
a space station has existed

for about a hundred years
at this point.

There had been some efforts
in the 1970s independently,

so the United States
and the Soviet Union,

to build a space station.

They both had success.

We in the United States
had the Skylab mission.

And the USSR had Salyut.

But these were small and sat
in a low orbit,

which meant they
only lasted a few years

before they were abandoned
to burn up

in the atmosphere.

This new station not only
has to last for decades,

but, very importantly, it needs
to be a research center

where the boundaries
of science are pushed.

When you’re in
a microgravity environment,

you can do these things that are
just not possible on Earth.

There are
incredible advancements

that we can find when
we research in microgravity.

From everything from vaccine
development

to research
in muscular dystrophy

to even growing organs in orbi;

from looking at stem cells

and maybe bringing those back
down to Earth one day.

The plan is to create
an orbiting space laboratory

for research that’s impossible
to do on Earth.

And over its 15 year lifespan,

test technologies
that will allow

longer term space travel.

On board, there will be room

for seven permanent residents
and guests for the occasional

sleepover as it travels around
the Earth every 90 minutes.

But building it comes with some
pretty big challenges.

First, they need to figure
out how to get it into space,

because the space
station will be

bigger than anything
carried up there before.

And they have to make sure
that when they do,

whatever they build it from

won’t explode under
the enormous pressure

in space and can survive

being hit by debris traveling
at thousands of miles per hour.

Next, they’ll have to find a wy
for the space station

to provide
its own power and deal

with the increasing demands
as the station grows,

and a system to provide
clean air and water

to sustain the astronauts’
long term missions.

Finally, they will
build a viewing portal

which needs to be super
strong in this harshest

of environments but will give
them an out of this world view.

This is going to be
one of the most technically

complicated projects ever
undertaken by humanity.

So it’s good news that some
of the bravest and brightest

from the United States, Canada,
Japan and Europe are working

on how to build this
boundary-pushing structure.

Starting with how
to get it up there.

The finished station will

weigh more than 300 automobiles
with the length of almost

an entire American
football field.

That’s bigger than anything
we’ve ever put in space before.

You cannot launch that one big
giant structure in one piece,

so you have to build it
in a modular fashion.

The plan is to build
14 modules here on Earth,

which will be joined
together in space.

From providing life support
systems and laboratories

to sleeping quarters
and even a gym,

each will be unique,

but they all have
to be incredibly tough.

It’s a bowling alley up there.
There’s...

There’s orbital debris
everywhere in space.

It’s not improbable
that something really...

catastrophic could
happen in the future.

In space,
everything wants to kill you.

Obviously,
there’s no breathable air,

but you’re also being
bombarded with radiation.

And then the temperature
goes from a plus 250°F

in the sunlight to a -455°F
in the shade.

And the laws of physics

dictate that any air squeezed
into a spacecraft under pressure

will really want
to find its way out.

If there are any weaknesses,

the atmosphere on the station
will find them.

If there is a sudden leak,

it can cause a decompression
event where air rushes out

suddenly and it could tear
the entire station apart.

The perfect shape for pressure
is a sphere because all loads

are the same and stresses are
the same throughout the sphere.

Which is why it’s been
used for unmanned satellites.

But spheres don’t have much
usable space inside

for astronauts and they’re
difficult to build.

A cylinder would
be the next best shape

because you’ve
got curvature in one direction,

so you get nice,
uniform pressure.

If you think of a soda can,
for example, it’s a cylinder,

and that’s to withstand
the immense pressure

that’s coming
from inside the can.

And it’s the same
on the space station.

But then you have
to figure out

what to make them from.

The space station module needs

to be made of a material
that’s light enough

to launch into space,
because every pound

that we launch is actually
really expensive,

but it also
needs to be really strong.

W e’ve made a mess
of our orbits up there.

We have a lot of orbital debris
in our low Earth orbit,

and then God
himself likes to throw

little micrometeorites
at us from deep space.

Micrometeorites
are incredibly small,

usually less than a millimeter,

tinier than a grain of sand.

But at space speeds,
they are lethal .

So these things are
traveling incredibly fast,

you know, five
kilometers a second.

And then when they hit these
things, they’re stopping very,

very quickly or they’re
going right through them.

A collision like this in space

could be catastrophic
for the crew inside.

Your skin would dry out

and you would lose all the water
in your body.

Imagine building a skyscraper

where the lobby’s
made in France,

the parking lot in Texas,
and the penthouse in Japan.

Now imagine stitching those
pieces together under the ocean.

Only it’s about a million times
more difficult.

Well, that’s exactly what’s
happening in the late 1980s,

when the U.S. has welcomed
friends and allies

from around the world
to join the most complicated

construction project
in human history.

The first big challenge
is to design modules

that can survive the harshest
environment... space.

One, you would freeze to death

and two, you wouldn’t have any
air to breathe and your skin

would dry out and you would
lose all the water in your body.

The team turns to
something originally developed

by astronomer Fred Whipple
in 1946 to protect spacecrafts.

It’s called the Whipple Shield.

The way it works is that it’s
made up of multiple layers

with a gap in the middle,

and that helps
to distribute the energy

of the impact
across those layers.

So a typical construction
of a Whipple Shield

is basically
two aluminum plates, right?

With a standoff.

When a particle comes,

it hits the aluminum shield
and it penetrates.

The particle basically

breaks up and it creates almost
like a plume.

But the space station
can’t leave anything to chance.

The energy released at
the moment of impact is extreme.

Temperatures spike
to thousands of degrees,

instantly melting both
the micrometeorite

and whatever it hits.

So these Whipple Shields
will have extra protection.

The third layer of a Whipple
Shield is Kevlar,

and you might
be familiar with that

from something like
a bulletproof vest, for exampl.

When micrometeorites hit Kevlar,

the energy dissipates
across the fibers.

No shattering,

no bending, just pure strength
holding everything together.

Next comes another layer
of a fabric called Nextel.

The Nextel can resist very high

temperature and Kevlar has very
strong mechanical properties.

So the combination
of the two can

disintegrate those particles.

Work gets underway

on the cylinder-shaped modules
with their protective skin.

But creating this extraordinary
structure is slow going.

And by the early 1990s, Congres
is becoming increasingly

concerned that the project is
over schedule and over budget.

While it might have
been budgeted at a very specific

dollar amount,
the space station, of course,

grows beyond in terms of costs,

like, materials certainly
increase in cost.

Originally budgeted
at eight billion USD, in 1993,

the space station has already
cost nine billion,

and the final figure

is estimated to be
as much as $35 billion.

That’s where we really

see this sort of pushback
from Congress about exactly

what kinds of things
they’re willing

to invest money in.

Arguments are being made
about the jobs

and the future
scientific advancements

that will be lost
if the program is ended.

But costs have spiraled
with the project

already $1 billion over budget

and the space station
still firmly on planet Earth.

On June 23rd, 1993,

Congress votes on whether

to continue with
President Reagan’s space projet

or whether to abandon it
altogether.

It was a very somber mood.

We were going to lose
the vote, most likely.

When the votes are counted,

the outcome stuns everyone.

It was 216 votes to 215.

The project survives
by a single vote.

A last minute campaign
by a group

of bipartisan
Representatives saves the day.

I think one brave politician
stood up

to save this marvel
that we are talking about today.

The space station survives.

But President Clinton insists
that budgets are cut.

It’s a very expensive effort.

And so the more collaborators

you have contributing technology
and research and, of course,

money to the effort
makes it easier.

It paves the way for Russia

to become a partner
in December 1993.

MIR for Discovery.

Discovery for Velodia.

We’re
bringing our nations

closer together.

For the first time
in many years,

the two Cold War rivals will
work together to conquer space.

The next time we approach,

we will shake your hand
and together

we will lead our world
into the next millennium.

Phase one of this new
partnership will see astronauts

and cosmonauts meet on Russia’s
Mir One Space Station.

The Mir Space Station
becomes a great opportunity

to learn how
to do these things together.

In 1995, the first
American astronaut arrives.

Six more will follow.

Take the space shuttle up

to a space station, dock.

Houston Atlantis,
we have capture.

- Exchange astronauts.
- We’re lucky,

and we’re honored and privilegd
to be part of this.

Allow Americans
to live on a space station

with people
from other countries.

Then I remember having some
wonderful meals there,

and they had Russian pop music
playing in the background.

It was really, really
a neat cross-cultural experiene

with our...
our cosmonaut colleagues.

They had something
called Courvoisier,

which is, like, a cognac.

You take a couple of slurps
and then Vasily

put the top
back on and he put it away.

And it really, I think, helped
us bond and become friends.

While it’s great

for fostering
international relations,

Mir has been in space for ten
years, and it highlights

how different the International
Space Station needs to be.

They’d had a fire
as well as a collision

on the outside
of the space station,

so they had power outages.

So it was mildewy dark and dank,
and I was very thankful to not

have to spend four and a half
months up there, quite honestly.

The next challenge the team

faces is how to get the space
station into space.

Previous space stations had ben

transported in traditional rockets,

but this limited their size.

It also was incredibly expensie
because the rockets

were only good for one flight.

Fortunately,
NASA was thinking ahead.

Three... two,... one... liftof.

The space shuttle is envisioned

as basically a truck
that can move things into space.

It is the mechanism by which
something else can happen.

The Space shuttle was
conceived and approved

knowing that someday
we would have a space station

and the space shuttle
would build that space station.

Designed in the 1970s, the
five space shuttles are NASA’s

Swiss Army Knife space vehicles
ready for any job.

The shuttle had
the crew compartment,

and behind that you had
this payload bay,

which the doors kind
of opened up.

It was a huge compartment

and had all the right dimensios
and structural and mechanical

interfaces for launching
the space station elements.

Shuttle was also
outfitted with a remote arm,

a perfect thing to build ISS.

Without that,
we could not have done it.

Then it can reenter and land
ready to fly again.

So all these fantastic
abilities.

In 1998, after nearly
15 years of planning,

the team is ready to launch

and then assemble
the first two modules in orbit.

It was a bit of a concern,

especially early on,
would all these things

fit together
for the very first time

meeting in space.

This was a project on a scale
like never before.

15 different countries

assembling components
across the globe,

using countless technologies,

and speaking almost
as many languages.

Even with the measurements,
it’s to-may-toes/to-mah-toes.

When I think about
the International Space Statio,

in all honesty, the first thing

I think about is: Did we use
metric units or English units?

The answer is actually both.

For the U.S.,
it’s all in feet and inches.

Of course the Russian program
was all metric.

So you know, you’re
watching your decimal points

and your units is very,
very important.

The problem is metric

and imperial connections
aren’t compatible.

The engineering solution

to joining the modules together
is both brilliant and simple.

The Common Berthing Mechanism

is a mechanical system
that is shared

with all of our international
partners

so that if we’re
bringing, say, a European modue

together with one of the U.S.

modules or a Japanese module, t
allows us to mate them togethe.

On December 4th, 1998,

the docking system is
put to the test when NASA

launches Space Shuttle Endeavor
carrying the central hub module

for the International Space
Station named Unity .

The Russian module Zarya, which
has a basic life support system

and will provide initial
guidance, power, and propulsion

for the space station,
is already orbiting Earth.

Now, the two have to be joined,

but to do that, Unity first has

to be moved out of the cargo by
and onto the shuttle’s roof.

The arm operator, Nancy Currie,

she basically grabbed
the Unity module,

where she positioned
the module right above

the orbiter docking system,

and then she positioned the arm
to capture the free flying

Zarya which is a challenge
in itself to actually

capture a free flying vehicle
with the arm.

Traveling at 17,500
miles per hour,

that seems like a bit
of an understatement.

But now, slowly and steadily,

Nancy uses the arm
to catch Zarya.

The time has come to join
the two modules

and it’s not going to be easy.

Docking mechanisms require
kinetic energy to capture,

using the momentum
of two vehicles

essentially smashing together.

But the arm is not good

at providing high speed
momentum because it’s...

I guess the way to look at it

is when it maneuvers payloads
in free space...

it moves those in a very
slow and methodical manner.

So there is a basic

incompatibility between
the two systems.

This was a cause of concern

for mission control
leading up to the mission.

After many, many months

of analyzing
this particular situation,

we came up with something that’s
known as SMRS-assisted docking.

So this is the way it works.

This is kind of crazy. Sorry.

It’s December 1998 and
mission control holds its breah

as the first two modules

of the International
Space Station

inch towards each
other in space.

This is the way it works.

The commander of the shuttle

initiated down firing control
system jets to essentially

slam the two modules together,

while the arm is
still holding on.

It’s a difficult thing
to do because,

if the two modules

were not aligned properly,

you could potentially have
a bounce off

and that would
that would not be good.

It’s a tense moment.

Commander Bob Cabana has to hit
the two modules together hard

enough that the docking
mechanism locks.

But if the modules
aren’t perfectly lined up,

Zarya could bounce off,
flying out of orbit.

Bob Cabana basically
pulsed some jets

and brought the two
spacecraft together.

Everything worked
just perfectly.

We were ecstatic.
It was the very first element.

We were proud. We were happy.

It takes three seven hour
spacewalks to fully

connect the modules,
but then they’re

ready to open the hatch

between Unity and Zarya.

On December 13th, 1998,

Space Shuttle Endeavor,
uncouples and the first section

of the space
station floats free.

The fact that they got it
up there and they fit together

as they are supposed to,
it’s a wonder.

So that was the first
stack of a space station.

It was an amazing feeling

to actually see the two systems
working together on orbit.

We were on the phone

with our Russian colleagues
and we were all celebrating.

Over the next two years,

a third module with advanced

life support systems to create
water and oxygen arrives.

And in October 2000, astronaut
Bill Shepherd

and cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko
and Sergei Krikalev check in.

The first long term residence

at the International
Space Station...

The early years were mostly
construction.

A lot of spacewalks took place.

Do the external connections
on the cables

and everything else...
And make space station ready.

One of the first jobs is to fit

two solar arrays
that arrive in December.

The size of a Boeing 777 wing

and covered with over 262,000
solar cells, the solar arrays

are the largest electrical powr
system ever put in space.

While on the ground,

a team of specialists focuses
on keeping the crew alive.

At first,

maintaining the life support
equipment was challenging.

Most of the equipment that we
have on the space station

had never been flown
in a space-like environment,

so it was all brand new
equipment being used

for the first time.

Ensuring there’s enough
air is job number one.

If you just use stored gas,

you would go through it
in a matter of days.

So you have to have a more...

sustainable source of oxygen
and we do that with water.

500 gallons of water can
be stored on board,

taking up much less room
than pure oxygen would.

So to make oxygen,

we add electricity to it through
a process called electrolysis.

We split the hydrogen
from the oxygen in the water,

so the water then turns

into breathing oxygen
for the crew.

So you could ask, "Where does
the water come from?"

The answer to that is why you

can’t be squeamish
and be an astronaut.

So the water is initially
brought to the space station

in storage tanks,
and the crew drinks it.

We collect their urine,
distill it,

process it through
specialized filters,

then turning that back
into drinkable water

water that is better

than the water that you can
find in your tap at home.

And the recycling
doesn’t stop there.

We even have the crew,
after they’re done exercising,

wipe off their sweat with towels

and hang up the towels
and dry off the towels.

And we collect that as well.

So we want every little bit
of drop of water.

The life support technologies

that they are developing
on the ISS will allow us

to go back and live on the moon,
to travel to Mars,

and perhaps one day even leave
the solar system.

Two years later,

NASA’s Destiny
laboratory is added.

It’s the first of six research

modules where the astronauts
will conduct scientific

experiments that are impossible
to do on Earth.

It brings the space station

to about a third
of its final size.

Also in space, carrying
out their own experiments,

is the crew
of the Space Shuttle Columbia.

One... We have
booster ignition and liftoff

of Space Shuttle Columbia.

When on February 1st,
2003, disaster strikes.

They were about maybe 15,
20 minutes from landing,

and they stopped answering
the radio calls from Houston,

and I started...

"There’s something
not normal here."

Fido, do you have any tracking?

No, sir.

So I started changing
channels on my television,

and I got
to a major news station,

and it showed
this burning debris...

across the sky in Texas.

And I immediately knew
that the crew

could not survive that.

Returning from a 16 day flight,

Columbia explodes on reentry.

And there was, like,
the worst day of my life.

Following the Columbia disaster,
all space shuttles are grounded.

No modules are going anywhere
until they figure out exactly

what went wrong and how to make
sure it can never happen again.

Analysis of the accident reveas

the cause of the disaster
actually happens during takeof.

A piece of foam

fell off of the external tank,
about the size of a briefcase.

It impacted the port side
underside of the wing.

It basically punched a hole
in the wing.

Although the falling foam
is spotted on takeoff,

the damage to the wing isn’t
and two weeks later the shuttle

is given the go
ahead to return to Earth.

While the shuttle was
reentering, due to the damage,

the heat flux went in

and basically
melted the structure, right?

And that’s how Columbia
disintegrated.

Commander Eileen Collins

is scheduled to fly
to the space station

on the Shuttle Discovery,

a month after
the Columbia disaster.

Her flight is delayed two years
and takes on new meaning.

It became what was now called
the Return to Flight mission.

Test techniques
to make the shuttle safer again.

Including testing
the heat shield tiles.

We did a lot of
experiments in vacuum chambers.

We had to simulate reentry
tests, right, in arc jets.

The team also develops
a shuttle repair technique,

which on Earth would be simple.

But to work in space, they need
materials that don’t exist yet.

Our crew is very actively

involved in that, and we had
some material called The Goo

and a little gun
that was the goo deployment gun,

and practiced fixing these
pieces of broken tile.

It’s like a caulking gun you
use on your bathroom tiles,

let’s say, right?

It took a good amount of time,

about a year and a half, two
years to develop that material.

In July of 2005,

Eileen and the Discovery crew
are ready for takeoff.

But during launch...

The unthinkable happens.

A very large piece of foam fell
off the other side

of the tank from where
the Columbia foam was,

and boom, that piece
of foam fell off the Pell ramp

and went right
underneath our right wing.

It’s 2005, and during
launch, on a mission

to the International Space
Station insulating foam

falls off of the Space
Shuttle Discovery .

The same thing that caused
the Columbia disaster.

To see if it’s
damaged the shuttle,

Commander Eileen Collins,
carries out a daring maneuver.

Say, this is the space station.

Now, normally, the shuttle
will come up from below,

stop at 600 feet, pause,

but then start a maneuver
and very, very slowly...

I think it was about
one degree per second.

Flipped the shuttle

around to expose
the bottom of the shuttle,

which is the tiles, as well
as the leading edge of the wing

to the astronauts on board
the space station.

Discovery start photos, okay?

Executing this maneuver so cloe

to the International Space
Station requires incredible

precision and perfect timing.

The astronauts inside
the space station

could actually
look out their window

and take photographs
of the underside

of the space shuttle,

so to really analyze all parts

of the space shuttle
using imagery.

T hankfully, the heat
shield hasn’t been damaged,

and this extraordinary backflip
in space becomes standard

for all future Space
Shuttle missions.

The RPM maneuver
that was developed

in the Space Shuttle program
could have very likely

saved the lives of astronauts
on future missions.

We have
booster ignition and liftoff

of the Space Shuttle Endeavor.

But the challenges
are far from over

from over because the team
has to constantly

reconfigure the space station
as different pieces are added.

The KIBO module is open.

In 2007,

astronaut Scott Parazynski is
preparing a new docking system.

And the most challenging part
of the mission was

to relocate a large
solar array truss

with a catchy name: P6.

At the time of our arrival,

this P6 truss was on the very
top of the space station.

It was the very first

solar panel set that had
been delivered to the ISS,

and so it had been
in space for many,

many years at this point.

So when we talk
about solar arrays,

they’re basically the same
as solar panels

that you might
have on the roof of your house.

But for space,
they have to be a lot

lighter weight and a lot
higher performance.

They’re also huge.

The 82 panels, each the size
of a Boeing 777 wing,

were folded into boxes
to get them into space.

So when it deployed out,

it kind of all unfolded out like
an accordion with...

using guide wires to
guide that deployment out.

Now the old solar array
needs to be folded back up,

moved, and then deployed again.

Solar array
deploys starting on my mark.

Spoiler alert:
it doesn’t go per plan.

Three... two... one... mark.

We were about maybe 80%, 85%

out when one of the cables
snagged and it tore that joint.

We saw five tears

and they were very long tears,
and we got worried.

The concern was that even if we
were to undock at that point,

it could rip apart.

It could damage the space
station or the space shuttle.

Damage to the station
could be catastrophic.

For three days,
engineers in Mission Control

and the astronauts in space wok
on a solution.

It wasn’t like we could
go to a local hardware store

and get a solar
array repair kit.

You know, we had to build it
with the things

that we had with us

on the shuttle
space station complex.

We create a cufflink type
of design

where we have this long wire
and a flat piece at each end.

And just somehow try

to put those through those hols
and maybe that could work.

On November 3rd,

the robotic arm is used
to move Parazynski

to the end
of the broken solar panel.

Repairing it will be
a very dangerous operation.

It was a fully-energized
solar panel.

We couldn’t turn it off.

So I had to be very careful not

to have any direct contact.

On Earth,
air acts as an insulator,

preventing electricity from
jumping easily between objects.

But in space with no air
to slow it down,

electric arcs can jump further,

burn hotter, and last longer.

Any activity you
do could cause motion,

and you need to be ready
to lean back away from it.

But I’m ready.

Electricity could arc
into my spacesuit

full of 100% oxygen

and there could be a fire
or an explosion,

which to me sounded
like a really bad thing.

Scott Parazynski... brave guy.

We had to essentially
stitch it back together.

And that was
a beautiful thing, though,

to see that cufflink
go into the hole.

Yes, it was.

So we’re doing a surgery out at
the end of the space station.

I’m gonna apply a little force,
get it fully engaged there.

For seven hours,

all mission control can do is
watch and wait.

One by one,
just installed these cufflinks,

just a beautiful job.

- That’s how you do it.
- Looks good.

And then he waved
and we were all sitting there...

Those three days,
I don’t think we slept.

It’s the moment of truth as the
solar array finishes unfolding.

We’ve got deployed discretes,

two deployed discretes.

- All right.
- Beautiful.

Great news.
What an accomplishment.

- Nice teamwork.
- Phenomenal.

It was really a... quite
an exciting day on the job.

While P6 has been a success,

by 2007, the solar array has
been in space for seven years.

So NASA decides it’s time
for an upgrade.

The new system is called ROSA.

ROSA stands
for the Roll-Out Solar Array.

It’s a product we’ve been
developing

for over a decade or so.

And it’s different than most
solar array technologies

that are flying in space
and that it actually

rolls out kind of like a carpet
rolling out, if you will.

It makes things a lot simpler
than the older accordion style.

There’s a lot less moving
parts going on.

Each mat is covered in thousans

of individual solar cells.

Compared to the original ISS
solar arrays, they’re...

the PV technology is anywhere

from two to three times
more efficient.

After more than a decade
in development,

the first ROSAs are ready.

It was an exciting day.

Um... This was a big milestone

achievement for...
for ROSA and us as a company.

It’s a little bit of nerves.

Once the astronauts

released a special bolt that lt
the wings go,

the Roll-out Solar Array just
rolled right out,

just like it was supposed to.

It’s another space station firt

that could mean big things
for our future in space.

We’re putting ROSAs on
geo-communications satellites.

We’re looking at using ROSA
on the lunar surface.

So there’s really
endless possibilities

of where we could use this
ROSA technology in space.

By 2009, the space station
is almost complete.

13 of the 15 modules have
been attached,

but what it’s missing is
a room with a view.

Seeing your home planet
from space

is a life changing experience.

You’re traveling
at 17,500 miles an hour,

and you’re seeing a sunrise
or sunset every 45 minutes.

You’re seeing the world
without boundaries.

And it was just
a dreamlike experience.

And liftoff of Shuttle Endeavo.

So in February 2010,
a 180-degree window,

called The Cupola

is taken to the space station
on Space Shuttle Endeavor.

N ASA’s final space
station crew compartment

to bring the bay window view
for our celestial backyard.

As well as protective doors mae

from the Whipple Shield,

the glass is made
of four layers,

an outer layer of fused silica
to protect from impact,

then two layers
that withhold pressure.

In the event of a failure
of the primary pressure pane,

that second pane we call
a redundant pane is capable

of carrying that load,
holding the pressure.

And finally,

an inner scratch pane to protet
it from the astronauts.

The crew are going
to be looking out the windows.

They’ll put their camera
lenses on these.

It’s an instant hit.

Just the imagery
coming through there

and the fact that they
spend all their time,

their free time,
in that location,

tells me a lot about how...

endeared they are to this piece
of hardware.

The view from low Earth orbit
is absolutely gorgeous.

It’s really not even
just what you see.

It’s how it makes you feel.

Put your face up
against the window

and stretch out your arms,
and you’re floating.

You just cannot put
a price on it.

It is just one
of the most magical things

that you can do in space.

In May 2011, Space Shuttle
Endeavor delivers

the final module to
the International Space Statio.

I would like to thik

that the International Space Statio,

in the words of many of the
astronauts who I’ve spoken

with who have been there, has
become a model for international

collaboration in really unique
and difficult circumstances.

It is amazing to think

that for over two decades,

the International Space Station
has circled our planet,

pushing the boundaries
of science and engineering

as well as being
a place that over 280 astronauts

from all over the world
have called home.

What ISS is doing that is
for everyone on this globe.

There are very few things
you can

talk about that will do that.

Over 3000 experiments
have taken place

on the space station,

some that will bring about huge
change back down here on Earth.

That’s the ultimate
goal of putting people in spac.

It’s not just to be there

and to observe Earth
or to observe space.

It’s really about being able

to develop new things that coud
be useful back on Earth.

A lot of our water filtration
technology is being utilized

in third world countries taking
water supplies that are

really undrinkable and using
our technology

in such a way that we can
provide drinking pure water.

We also have
a bio-fabrication facility

where we’re doing things like D
printing human tissue.

That is not possible on Earth
with gravity.

So it’s possible in the future
that we could be doing things li

like printing full organs,
transporting them back

where people could use
them here on Earth.

In 2030,

46 years after President Reagan
announced his vision,

The International Space Station

will come to the end
of its life.

Spacecraft have a limited life.

You can’t keep it up there
indefinitely.

The space environment
is very harsh

on these big structures.

It’s with kind of sad emotion,

but, uh, a lot of the experience
and capabilities

that we’ve learned
from the space station...

I mean, those are invaluable.

Despite its imminent end,
the International Space Station

will live on in the space
stations that follow.

There are companies that are now

planning to build separate space
stations where companies,

maybe tourists, could go
live in and spend time in spac.

And so I think
that’s really exciting.

Using the technology developed

through the space station,
in the next few years,

NASA’s Artemis missions will
be putting a permanent

human presence on the moon...
and maybe beyond.

I see the ISS is at the
foundation of all the really

audacious things that are in
store for us in the future.

As human beings,
we tend to be explorers.

We tend to want to know
what’s across the next hill,

what’s in the next horizon,

and the space station
was that major stepping stone

for maybe exploring
our solar system.

After several millennia in
pursuit of the most ingenious,

awe-inspiring structures
on Earth,

we’re now sending them into
orbit 250 miles above our heads,

circling our planet.

Where will we try
to put up a building next?

Who knows?

Although I hear there’s plenty
of cool real estate on Mars.

MTV!