International Space Station

The International Space Station (ISS) is a joint project of 6 space agencies: the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Russian Federal Space Agency, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Canadian Space Agency (CSA/ASC), Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) and the European Space Agency (ESA, with members United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, Austria and Finland choosing not to participate; Greece and Luxembourg joined ESA later http://www.esa.int/esaHS/partstates.html).

Name

The name "International Space Station" (abbreviated MKS in Russian) represents a neutral compromise ending a disagreement about a proper name for the station. The initially proposed name "Space Station Alpha" was rejected by Russia, since it would have implied that the station was something fundamentally new, whereas the Soviet Union already had operated eight orbital stations long before the ISS launch (see Space station). The Russian proposal to name the space station "Atlant" was in turn rejected by the US, which was worried about that name's similarity to "Atlantis", the name of a legendary continent that sank into the ocean. The use of "Atlantis" would also have caused confusion with the US shuttle Atlantis.

Related Topics:
Russia - Soviet Union - Space station - US - Atlantis - ''Atlantis''

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Radio call sign

It should be noted that, although the space station's name is "International Space Station", the station's call sign is Alpha. The callsign was requested immediately upon the embarkation of Expedition 1, the first ISS crew. A clearly stunned NASA Administrator Dan Goldin gave "preliminary permission" (which eventually became permanent). As a result, the ISS is not named as such when hailed. "Discovery, Alpha" is thus a common call during Station-Shuttle docking procedures.

Related Topics:
Expedition 1 - NASA Administrator - Dan Goldin

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Note: there is a ham radio aboard the station that gives reports to an Earth-bound station.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~