This HTML version of the International Space Station Fact Book is based on the Fact Book published in July 1999. Therefore, some dates and information may not agree with current schedules. The Space Station will inspire a new generation of Americans to explore and achieve, while pioneering new methods of education to teach and motivate the next generation of scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and explorers.
Space science is a catalyst for academic achievement.
Enrollment trends of U.S. college students majoring in science and engineering track closely with the funding trends of the U.S. space program. NASA is a leader in the development of virtual reality and telepresence technologies, giving students many of the benefits of actually being on the Space Station and interacting with real astronauts. Astronauts and cosmonauts serve as role models, capturing the imagination of future leaders and encouraging more students to study science and engineering. In addition to lessons from space, students of the future will have experiments on the Space Station and will conduct them from their classrooms on the ground. Students will transmit and receive data, manipulate equipment remotely, and evaluate the experiments through data interpretation.