ISS beginning to shape up

Since the addition of the Zvezda Service Module, assembly activities on the International Space Station have been ramped up to meet the program's completion goal of 2006.

Program managers of the International Space Station (ISS) have been attempting to regain lost ground caused by the numerous delays of the Zvezda Service Module, which was connected to the station in July 2000. New assembly plans have pushed the station's completion back to 2006. Since the addition of Zvezda, integrated truss structures Z1 and P6, pressurized mating adapter 3, a photovoltaic module, radiators, and the Destiny laboratory (scheduled for assembly in February) have been connected to the station, and the first station crew arrived in November.

One of the most visible additions to the station was that of the photovoltaic module or pair of solar arrays. Each solar array spans 109 ft and is connected to the ISS's 310-ft-long truss and extends outward normal to it. According to Michael Hawes, Deputy Associate Administrator for Space Development at NASA, when fully deployed, the arrays will make ISS one of the brightest stars in the sky, with only the Moon and star Sirius shinning brighter.