Building a Space Station

Abstract

Robotics played a key role in the creation of the International Space Station during the assembly between 1998 and 2011. It continues to this day, thanks to the Space Station Robotic Manipulator System (SSRMS) that was delivered by STS-100 in April 2001. The apparent ease with which this was achieved was honed during several early Shuttle missions and by pioneering robotic arm operators who had to devise a different way of working several feet or meters away from where the workplace was situated, as pointed out above by Rhea Seddon. The development of the RMS and its operation first on the Shuttle and then aboard the ISS, was one of the unsung success stories of the series.¹

To operate the remote arm, I had to look out the aft cockpit windows. I wasn’t tall enough to see out the window so I had to bungee myself to the switch panel. That worked well in weightlessness and replaced the footstool I had used on Earth.

Rhea Seddon, MS STS-51D, from Go for Orbit