For the Space Station Freedom (predecessor of ISS), what was the plan for lobbing the various components up into orbit? Was it going to be launched on a modified Saturn V like Skylab was, or were the components going to be designed to fit inside of the space shuttle, or would have something like the STS-C been used?
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2 Answers
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It was planned to be launched piecemeal by the Shuttle.
One of the first redesigns was to reduce the number of Shuttle missions required.
NASA tried to reduce the number of Shuttle assembly flights by making several modifications. The first launch would now take place in March 1994, the Station would be permanently manned from April 1995 onwards and be completed in March 1997 after 17 flights. Congress disliked the 6-9 month delay and briefly demanded that the schedule be accelerated.
You can see the influence of Freedom on what would become the ISS in this artist's concept.
answered Feb 12, 2018 at 22:24
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3$\begingroup$ Lots of on-orbit construction too. Way too much. That truss is built stick by stick tinker-toy fashion by astronauts on EVA. $\endgroup$– ErikFeb 12, 2018 at 23:35
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$\begingroup$ @Erik upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9a/… $\endgroup$ Feb 12, 2018 at 23:44
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4$\begingroup$ yup. My first job out of school was designing lock joints for the truss. $\endgroup$– ErikFeb 13, 2018 at 3:23
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There were different concepts proposed, where a Shuttle-C, a cargo version of the Shuttle, would launch a large singular station. Shuttle-C was non-reusable and got way more payload compared to a regular Shuttle mission since the wings and cockpit are gone. Or put another way minimizing the non-cargo stuff, lets a Shuttle-C concept carry much more actual payload.
Otherwise it was a Shuttle launched station design.
