Mission Possible?

The inaugural U.S.-Russian crew gives new life to the International Space Station

Test the toilet. That was at the top of the to-do list when a three-man U.S.-Russian crew boarded the International Space Station in November to turn on the lights, gel the oxygen pumping, and start the food warmers. "It's kind of like getting into your house," says crew commander Bill Shepherd.

The four-month mission to set up shop is being hailed as the beginning of a new space age. With cons continuing until 2006, the $60 billion station is to be home to astronauts for at least the next 15 years. Planners bill it as both a high-tech orbiting laboratory and a potential launching pad for missions to Mars, while critics say the station, plagued by delays and ballooning costs, isn't worth the price tag.

"There are so many people who felt maybe we couldn't do it," says Daniel Goldin, administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the U.S. agency that's leading 16 participating countries. "But it's happening, it's here. We're going to be in space forever with people who are circling this globe."

To some, it has already seemed like forever just to get this far. Back in 1984, President Ronald Reagan first called for a space station that would cost $8 billion and be ready by 1992. It never got off the drawing board. In 1993, President Clinton revived the idea as a cooperative effort, with Russia helping to share the development costs. Since then, the U.S. has spent billions to bail out cash strapped Russia. Shepherd and his crew, Russians Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev, were supposed to be on the space station almost three years ago, but Russia fell behind, and even resorted to selling advertising to raise cash -- one booster rocket was emblazoned with a giant Pizza Hut logo. Some estimates put the final cost of the station near $100 billion.

Still, two of the station's first three pieces, the Zvezda and Zarya modules, are Russian built. The European Space Agency and Japan will contribute laboratories, Canada will provide a 55-foot-long robotic arm, and Brazil and Italy are on board for other equipment. The U.S. will contribute the most modules, including a docking station, living quarters, and a laboratory.

NASA hopes that experiments conducted in the station's gravity-free environment will help develop new drugs, machines, computers, and materials. The station will also be used to train astronauts for prolonged missions in space, whether for another moon landing or a three-year round-trip to Mars.

Making all that happen requires international cooperation, but so far the countries can't even agree on an official name for the station. Shepherd, Gidzenko, and Krikalev are setting an example of unity, calling the station Alpha for "beginning." They have also become fluent in Russian and English. "We jokingly say that we communicate in `Runglish,'" Krikalev says.

All the countries, and the parts they produce, have to work together for the station to work on its own. Shepherd says while a space shuttle flight is like a long airplane ride, "the station is much more a ship at sea that's away from its base and it has to take care of itself."

Shepherd's crew is trying to establish smooth sailing in the station setup before a replacement crew arrives via the space shuttle in February to broaden the station's operations.

Goldin sees the first crew as pioneers: "Let's look upon this as the opening of the international space frontier."

SOYUZ SPACECRAFT: It carried the current crew to the station and is now docked as an emergency escape pod.

ZVEZDA SERVICE MODULE: Built by Russia and launched in July 2000, it's the current living quarters and has life support, control, and communication systems for the entire station.

ADDITIONAL MODULES: A Japanese lab, a European lab, and U.S.-built living quarters will be added before the station's 2006 completion.

ZARYA MODULE: This Russian capsule, used as a storage facility and fuel tank, was the first piece launched, in November 1998. Other components are attached one at a time.

DESTINY LABORATORY: The first lab to be installed at the station, the U.S.'s Destiny will be launched in January 2001, The shuttle's robot arm and spacewalking astronauts will attach it.

SOLAR PANELS: Four sets of solar arrays--the largest ever built, with a wingspan of 240 feet--will power the station. The first set was installed in December 2000.

RADIATORS: They expel excess heat from station operations into space to control the internal temperature for the components and astronauts.

UNITY NODE: Built by the U.S. and launched in December 1998, it serves as a door for astronauts' space walks and a dock for space shuttles.

SPACE SHUTTLE: NASA's shuttles will dock at the station to deliver supplies, to transport crews, and to carry new components.

RELATED ARTICLE: No Space in Space

Part of the International Space Station's purpose is to get astronauts used to living in space for long periods of time. But life on the station's Zvezda module is light-years from the deluxe accommodations of a Star Wars spaceship. The crew has to take the bad with the good.

GOOD: The biggest perk is the spectacular view of Earth in the vastness of space.

BAD: The biggest window is only 16 inches wide in a capsule with space equal to the inside of a school bus.

GOOD: You're scheduled for eight hours of sleep a night.

BAD: You're in a sleeping bag hanging on a wall, and there are only two closet-size "bedrooms" for three astronauts.

GOOD: The module comes equipped with a treadmill and stationary bike.

BAD: If you don't exercise the required one to two hours a day, you'll become dangerously weak, losing bone and muscle mass in zero gravity.

GOOD: The food includes steak, soup, fruit juice, and fajitas.

BAD: It's either dehydrated or in tubes, and crumbs have to be sucked up before they clog the ventilation system.

GOOD: There's no laundry, thanks to disposable clothes.

BAD: Throw them away after two or three days or your station mates will raise a stink, too.

GOOD: Recycling is a way of life.

BAD: That includes recycling toilet water, though, thankfully, it's cleaned and electrically split into oxygen (to breathe) and hydrogen (which is expelled into space).

GOOD: In your free time, up to three hours on a usual day, you can use e-mail, listen to CDs, watch movies, or read books.

BAD: Communication with Earth has had glitches, and without a Blockbuster or Barnes & Noble, you have to wait for a space shuttle to arrive with new requests from home.

GOOD: Working and living side by side for four months with your fellow astronauts, you really get to know them.

BAD: Privacy is scarce, and you can't step outside for some air.

Reporting by WARREN LEARY, a science reporter in Washington for The New York Times, Written by Chris Tauber.