Una estación espacial es una construcción artificial diseñada para hacer actividades en el espacio exterior, con diversos fines. Se distingue de otra nave espacial tripulada por su carencia de un sistema de propulsión principal, y de medios de aterrizaje
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00:00Around the planet, 16 times a day, at an altitude of 350 kilometers.
00:15Very good news, Rex. Thank you very much.
00:20The International Space Station is the largest artificial object in space and serves as home to a crew of 10 astronauts.
00:31They are carrying out experiments to find out what life would be like outside this planet.
00:38Sequence, ready.
00:41Their work may one day allow us to colonize the Moon, or even Mars.
00:53Four historic spaceships are behind the success of the International Space Station.
01:01Each structure has been a huge technological success that has allowed engineers to build ever larger spaceships.
01:11One by one, from smallest to largest.
01:16We will reveal the stories behind these incredible machines.
01:21Five achievements of engineering, which is the best?
01:25That have evolved from one large to another larger.
01:29To the largest.
01:31Largest.
01:49Largest. Largest. Largest.
01:52The International Space Station.
01:5510, 9, 8, main engine contact, 7, 6, ignition of the main engine, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0.
02:06And takeoff of the Atlantis spacecraft.
02:09Columbus departs on a scientific journey to the space station.
02:17February 2008.
02:19The Atlantis spacecraft began a 13-day mission to move the most recent components to the International Space Station in continuous development.
02:29Kennedy Space Center, traveling at 3,200 kilometers per hour.
02:34For the last 11 years, astronauts have been assembling the structure in space.
02:42When it is finished, it will consist of 14 modules.
02:46Between scientific laboratories and crew dependencies, it will weigh 400 tons.
02:56With a cost of 100 billion dollars, it is the most expensive and demanding construction project that has ever been carried out.
03:02To understand how it was possible to build something so ambitious, we must go back in time.
03:22Our history begins in the middle of the Cold War.
03:25To erect the first space station in the world, the Salyut, Soviet engineers had to overcome the force of gravity first.
03:33First step, stay in orbit.
03:40The Eagle has landed.
03:45June 1969. The United States won the Soviet Union the race to put man on the moon.
03:51Go ahead, Mr. President. This is Houston. Over.
03:55Hi Neil, how are you? It is clear that this is going to be the most historic telephone call ever made.
04:05The Soviets had decided not to be defeated again.
04:12Their goal would be to put man in space for a record time.
04:16Scientists did not know how the human body would react in such an extreme environment.
04:26So they decided to put a laboratory in space to find out.
04:37The Salyut would carry on board a crew of three cosmonauts.
04:40The compressed compartments would have a control room and dependencies for the crew.
04:48The plan was for the cosmonauts to spend three weeks there.
04:58But to be in orbit for so long, the Salyut had to travel at 28,000 km per hour throughout the mission.
05:05The astronaut Leroy Chiao, a veteran of four space station missions,
05:09knows the danger of taking his foot off the accelerator.
05:15If you don't go fast enough in the ascent to space, you fall back to the ground.
05:20So you have to be careful.
05:22You have to be careful.
05:24You have to be careful.
05:26You have to be careful.
05:28You have to be careful.
05:30You have to be careful.
05:31If you're not careful with the ascent to space, you fall back to the earth,
05:34so you have to reach what is known as orbital velocity.
05:37So the life force at acceleration is going to level exactly with the gravitational force.
05:42When those forces are level, the object will remain at that distance from the earth or the object on which it is orbiting.
05:52To reach orbital velocity or 28,000 km per hour, the Russians attached the Salyut to the proton rocket.
06:01When the rocket was in orbit and the Salyut was released, there would be nothing that would prevent it from maintaining this speed.
06:11Space is emptiness. There is no air resistance that slows it down.
06:18But unfortunately, this emptiness is not really empty.
06:25In principle, if there is no friction at all, once in orbit, it would stay in orbit.
06:30In the case of Earth, we have an atmosphere of air, so even at an altitude of several hundred kilometers, there are still some air molecules.
06:44Even the air molecules that reach the Salyut were enough to create drag and slow down the speed of the spacecraft.
06:56If the speed decreased below the orbital speed, gravity would send the spacecraft back to Earth,
07:03with catastrophic consequences.
07:14That is why periodically the space station and other spacecraft had to be re-pushed by rockets to regain their original orbit and counteract the effect of the drag.
07:25But using a rocket to propel the Salyut was risky.
07:36These rockets take off with an explosion and burn quickly.
07:41An out-of-control explosion could send the Salyut into interplanetary space.
07:49The engineers needed a rocket that they could keep under control.
07:54They found the solution in an unexpected place.
07:59During the Korean War, the US Army needed to move its soldiers quickly through the battlefield.
08:09The engineers came up with a very peculiar device.
08:15A rocket backpack.
08:21The rocket man could stay in the air because his backpack was propelled by a chemical reaction that he could easily control.
08:32The chemist Andrew Sidlow shows us how to generate force with a simple chemical reaction.
08:39When hydrogen peroxide decomposes, it releases oxygen and water in the form of steam.
08:47As I press the syringe like this, a small amount enters and a small burst of steam comes out.
08:54Another small burst of steam comes out.
08:57It is something that can be controlled.
08:59A precise amount of hydrogen peroxide is the immediate response to a small amount of steam and oxygen.
09:09The Soviets placed chemical engines similar to those in the rocket backpack at their space station.
09:23These allowed the cosmonauts to give their spacecraft an out-of-control burst of energy so that it would acquire more speed and return to its original orbit.
09:33Thus, the crew managed to rotate around the Earth for 23 days, a new world record.
09:43Go ahead, I'm not in the middle.
09:46Third day of mission of the space transborder and its objective is to join a new module to the International Space Station.
09:52Okay, good change.
09:53Agree.
09:55The transborder could have to do another crucial task.
10:07The International Space Station does not use its own propellers to regain orbital speed, but uses the propellers of space launchers.
10:16The space station also has to constantly correct its position to keep its solar panels facing the sun.
10:26The panels are placed in a special way so that the sun can be seen from the other side.
10:31The sun is the only source of light in the space station.
10:34The sun is the only source of light in the space station.
10:37The sun is the only source of light in the space station.
10:40The panels provide all its energy.
10:44To make these precise adjustments, astronauts do not depend on the energy of the rocket, but on this, a gyroscope.
10:56The space scientist Kevin Fohm shows us how a wheel can move a space station.
11:03This is a gyroscope.
11:05It is a very rudimentary sample.
11:07Like all gyroscopes, when it is rotating, it tends to stay where it is.
11:12And if you imagine that this plate is the friction of gravity in space, if you can, and we get on top of it,
11:20if I turn the wheel, it steers me.
11:25And if I turn it to the other side and I manage not to fall, it turns me back.
11:31And if I turn it to the other side and I manage not to fall, it turns me back.
11:37And this is a very crude demonstration of how gyroscopes steer the space station.
11:48The engineers fixed four gyroscopes to the International Space Station.
12:01When they adjust the inclination of these rotating wheels from the ground,
12:05they exert a force on the space station, which is what makes it move.
12:18The gyroscopes make continuous adjustments so that the solar panels of the spacecraft are always oriented to the sun.
12:25Thus, the crew always has the energy necessary to carry out their experiments.
12:33Astronaut Mike Fink has been at the space station for 100 days. It is his second home.
12:40Again, excuse our mess, but we are building a lot of things.
12:45This is my work area.
12:47It is a bit cluttered right now, but this is what my desk would be.
12:52It doesn't sit up in a horizontal position, but it has everything I need on it.
12:58Here is my partner, Uri Lunsakov, exercising on the treadmill.
13:06My God, that out there is beautiful.
13:14In 1971, the propellers kept the Salyut in orbit for 23 days.
13:22The Americans wanted to break that record with a huge space laboratory.
13:31But first, they had to come up with a way to keep their laboratory in contact with the Earth.
13:37Second step, communication.
13:40At the end of the 1960s, NASA scientists planned a series of unique space experiments.
13:52Their laboratory would be a 100-ton space station called Skylab.
13:58Three astronauts would be their human guinea pigs.
14:03The scientists wanted to investigate the tremendous price that the human body had to pay for living in pregnancy.
14:14The scientists wanted to investigate the tremendous price that the human body had to pay for living in pregnancy.
14:28They would monitor their experiments from Earth through communication links.
14:43Spending time in space can leave astronauts without muscle strength to stay upright when they return to Earth.
14:51Space is a unique hostile environment, but one of the biggest challenges is pregnancy.
14:56There are many elements in the human body that depend on gravity for their normal functioning.
15:01Muscles, bones, but also the heart, which is basically a muscle pump.
15:07Without the constant force of gravity on Earth, muscles such as the heart begin to atrophy.
15:16And the longer the human body is in space, the more muscle strength it loses.
15:26The scientists had to solve this problem if they wanted the man to be able to live on planets where the force of gravity is less than on Earth.
15:45The success of the Skylab mission was possible thanks to the fact that the scientists were able to monitor the vital constants of the astronauts from Earth.
15:54But there was a problem.
16:00Houston was planning to use electromagnetic waves to communicate with the Skylab.
16:10But the electromagnetic waves only travel in a straight line.
16:15The Skylab took 90 minutes to orbit the Earth, so the scientists on Earth had only 6 minutes to monitor the crew as they flew over Houston.
16:29It was not enough time to collect the data they needed.
16:37NASA created 11 other terrestrial stations around the world to help Houston.
16:45But even so, there were still large areas of ocean without receivers.
16:55So they attached some to the deck of a ship to try to communicate with the space station while flying over the sea.
17:05But the ocean is too big to cover it with just one ship.
17:08No ship could move at the speed of the Skylab.
17:20NASA needed receivers of radio signals that had more mobility.
17:25So they attached them to planes.
17:30Michael Kiley was one of the assigned pilots to fly these planes around the world.
17:39With the planes, we could be anywhere in the world, following the orbit of the spacecraft,
17:47and we had real-time communication with the astronauts.
17:56They placed two-meter radio receivers at the front of the planes.
18:02Some electric motors allowed the antenna to move and orient itself at any point in space.
18:09When the space station passed over them,
18:14an operator inside the spacecraft could adjust the angle of the antenna to receive the radio signal from the Skylab.
18:30When the Skylab was out of the scope of a spacecraft, another one took over.
18:36A fleet of eight aircraft was needed all over the planet to keep in touch with the Skylab crew.
18:46Managing these aircraft required great skills.
18:52You had to be in an excellent position for the antenna and the aircraft to orient to where the spacecraft was heading,
18:58to track the station as much as possible, and to get the information that it relayed back to Houston.
19:09Thanks to pilots like Michael Kiley,
19:12the ground crew could have constant information about their colleagues in space.
19:20Scientists wanted astronauts to strengthen their worn muscles by exercising with elastic bands.
19:29They also worked on their hearts by placing the crew members in a machine that simulates the gravity of the Earth.
19:44After enduring these tests for 84 days,
19:48the Skylab crew proved that the human body can now survive without gravity.
19:58The International Space Station
20:06At present, at the International Space Station,
20:10scientists have come to the conclusion that astronauts need to exercise for two and a half hours every day to keep their muscles healthy.
20:21But in this orbiting laboratory, astronauts are no longer the center of scientific experiments.
20:29Astronauts, in turn, are investigating how crops would grow,
20:34and how animals would reproduce in an environment without gravity.
20:44As for the Skylab, ground specialists could maintain regular contact with astronauts.
20:51At present, communication is via satellite and not by plane.
21:02Nine satellites orbit the Earth thousands of kilometers above the Space Station.
21:10They are in orbit, in fixed points, around the equator of the Earth.
21:14Together, the satellites provide the control mission almost uninterrupted contact with the Space Station that orbits below them.
21:25When the Space Station transmits a signal,
21:29the closest satellite picks it up and sends it to Earth, where it is redirected to Houston's command control.
21:36Go ahead, Cuichi.
21:38Yes, I would appreciate it if...
21:40Cuichi, there is no problem. Thank you for letting us know.
21:46In 1973, a fleet of aircraft allowed the American Skylab to be in contact with the Space Station's room.
21:54In this way, the Space Station was able to maintain a regular contact with the Space Station.
21:59In 1973, a fleet of aircraft allowed the American Skylab to be in contact with the Space Station's room.
22:12But making a larger Space Station required joining two fierce enemies and merging two incompatible spaceships.
22:21Third step, vital support.
22:24In 1975, the United States and the Soviet Union issued a news that shook the world.
22:33They were going to join their resources to create a unique Space Station.
22:42This joint effort would be a symbol of the end of the Cold War and would put an end to the tensions caused by the space race.
22:49This joint effort would be a symbol of the end of the Cold War and would put an end to the tensions caused by the space race.
23:02The plan was as follows.
23:05The Soviet Union would launch the Soyuz Spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
23:12Simultaneously, the United States would launch the Apollo Spacecraft from Cape Canaveral.
23:19Simultaneously, the United States would launch the Apollo Spacecraft from Cape Canaveral.
23:28Both spaceships would dock in orbit 220 km from Earth.
23:34Here, the American astronauts would see the Soviet cosmonauts and together they would conduct the first international space mission.
23:42Here, the American astronauts would see the Soviet cosmonauts and together they would conduct the first international space mission.
23:47One of the American astronauts was Vance Brandt.
23:52I thought it was going to be a very interesting flight, obviously with a very international touch.
23:58A lot of challenges, something that we had to do right.
24:03But the biggest challenge was to work with, well, I guess you could say our enemies of that time.
24:11And to carry out a joint space mission successfully.
24:16But a great engineering problem arose.
24:22The Russian and American spaceships were not mechanically coupled.
24:28Both were designed in the middle of the Cold War, under great secrecy, and in a crucial aspect, they were incompatible.
24:41The pressure of the air in both spaceships was totally different.
24:50The air in the Soyuz maintained the same pressure as the air on Earth.
25:00But in the American, Apollo, the astronauts breathed pure oxygen at a much lower pressure.
25:07If the Americans opened the hatch, the sudden change in air pressure could have a devastating effect on their Russian counterparts.
25:19It would cause the nitrogen in their bloodstream to turn into gas bubbles.
25:26And the Russian astronauts would be able to breathe the same oxygen as the Russian astronauts.
25:31This also happens to the submariners if they go up to the surface too fast.
25:42It can be prevented by staying in a chamber where the pressure of the air decreases gradually.
25:49The Russian astronauts would be able to breathe the same oxygen as the Russian astronauts.
25:55It can be prevented by staying in a chamber where the pressure of the air decreases gradually.
26:05The engineers copied this idea and fixed a decompression chamber in the front of the Apollo spacecraft.
26:16When the two spaceships were coupled, the American astronauts would leave the Apollo and enter the chamber.
26:25They would wait there for three hours until the air pressure matched the pressure inside the Soyuz.
26:36Then the astronauts could safely enter the Russian spacecraft for a historic handshake.
26:42July 15th, 1975.
26:46Vance Brandt and the Apollo crew begin their mission.
26:52Please do not forget...
26:55Less than five meters away.
27:00Attention!
27:02We have a problem.
27:04We have a problem.
27:06We have a problem.
27:08We have a problem.
27:10Attention!
27:12Contact!
27:14When we connected, we felt a slight shake.
27:18The spaceships came together and there we were.
27:21We were very happy.
27:23It meant that we had been successful.
27:27Nothing had gone wrong.
27:29And we had successfully completed the first phase of our mission.
27:36Second phase.
27:37The Americans had to wait for their bodies to acclimatize.
27:42There was a lot of tension on both sides of this steel curtain.
27:53When the hatch was opened,
27:57there were a lot of shakers, shaking hands, hugging, and all that.
28:04It was really the beginning of a more optimal international relationship,
28:09to improve future international relations,
28:12especially between the Eastern Bloc countries and the West.
28:16Welcome, Soyuz.
28:18We also noticed.
28:20It may be almost forgotten now,
28:23but we made steps towards the beginning of better international relations,
28:28and we also developed a new aircraft coupling system.
28:37This extraordinary meeting made it possible for international cooperation
28:42at an even more ambitious international space station.
28:52Today, the Atlantis spacecraft
28:54approaches the International Space Station with its heavy cargo.
29:00Here we are, in second position.
29:04After a three-day journey, the transporter prepares to dock.
29:10To the right, about 15 minutes or so.
29:14All right.
29:16Flight controller awaiting contact and capture of the International Space Station.
29:21The new module has arrived safe and sound.
29:25And also, the international crew.
29:28Hello.
29:30Hello.
29:32I'm glad to be here.
29:34Like an elephant in a shed.
29:36Hello, Rex. How are you?
29:38The station has maintained a permanent human presence in space for almost a decade.
29:46In part, it has been possible thanks to the engineers
29:49who found a way to recycle the most precious resource of humanity.
29:55Water.
30:01At the Marshall Space Center in Alabama,
30:04scientists have built the model of a space station
30:08to perfect the latest water recycling techniques.
30:15And they move civilian volunteers to the sealed chamber
30:19so that they live like astronauts.
30:24We use this chamber to generate residual water
30:28that is as similar as possible to the residual water
30:31that astronauts generate while they are in the space station.
30:36The extractors absorb hot air filled with perspiration
30:40and collect the sweat that evaporates from the wet clothes.
30:47The scientists give this sweaty liquid a very diplomatic name.
30:52Moisturizing condensate.
30:57They also manage to recover the urine water.
31:03Obviously, the urine is more contaminated than the moisturizing condensate,
31:08so we put that through an initial distillation process
31:12and we can recover around 85% of the urine water.
31:17The space station's recycling system
31:20manages to recover 94% of the residual water
31:23produced by astronauts.
31:30And the crew not only drinks this water,
31:33but also breathes it.
31:47Inside the space station,
31:50the electricity system goes through recycled water tanks.
31:59This energy charge divides the water into its chemical components,
32:03hydrogen and oxygen.
32:10The pumps channel oxygen through pipes running through the ship
32:13to generate the gas that gives life to the crew.
32:20Fresh air from sweat and urine.
32:30This technology is vital for future crewed missions to Mars.
32:35A return trip could last two years,
32:38during which a crew of four
32:41would use more than 36,000 liters of water.
32:46Therefore, it is essential for space scientists
32:49to learn how to recycle every drop of water.
32:53In 1975, the meeting of the American and Soviet spaceships
32:57decided to start the process of recycling water.
33:01But the Soviets decided to go solo.
33:09To build an even bigger space station,
33:12they would have to master the art of gravity.
33:17Fourth step.
33:20To build a space station,
33:23they would have to be able to fly.
33:25This is the art of gravity.
33:29Fourth step.
33:32To build in space.
33:36In February 1986,
33:39a Soviet rocket was launched
33:42carrying the first section of a huge spaceship.
33:46Once finished,
33:49the Mir space station would weigh about 130 tons.
33:52Too heavy to be carried in a single rocket.
34:00It had to be sent in six different sections.
34:04The construction work would be carried out by a team of cosmonauts.
34:09A very radical idea.
34:15They were doing something new, very innovative,
34:18and they thought, well, let's see if we can build
34:21something bigger. How do we do it?
34:24What problems can we encounter? What can we learn?
34:27The first challenge was to work outside, in such a hostile environment.
34:32Up there, the temperatures can go from 275 degrees to the sun,
34:36to 275 below zero in the shade.
34:41Photographs, all samples.
34:45NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik
34:48reveals how a space suit with liquid cooling
34:51works.
34:55The liquid cooling suit is made of mesh
34:58and with a lot of tubes.
35:01Those tubes carry the water to all parts of the body
35:04and adapt to the body temperature.
35:07So when it's 275 degrees below zero,
35:10you can raise the temperature and stay warm.
35:13And when it's 275 degrees to the sun,
35:16you can lower the temperature.
35:18So we need the suit,
35:21because it's a kind of individual space ship
35:24when you're out working.
35:31In the first space suits,
35:34the liquid that kept an appropriate temperature
35:37along with the oxygen that the astronaut breathes
35:40and the electricity that keeps their systems running
35:43were fed by the space station
35:45with an umbilical cord.
35:53But this cord was a problem
35:56for the astronauts who built the MIR.
36:00It not only limited their maneuverability
36:03around the station, but if it got stuck
36:06and lost liquid, it could be disastrous for the astronaut.
36:16To overcome this problem,
36:19the Russian designers removed the umbilical cord
36:22and replaced it with a portable backpack.
36:34It contained oxygen tanks,
36:37batteries and refrigerant and thermal liquids
36:40for the space suit.
36:45The designers added two components each
36:48in case one failed.
36:51The astronaut couldn't bend his head long enough
36:54to see the control panel on his chest.
36:57So the designers added considerably
37:00a mirror on his arm.
37:08So the astronauts were able to assemble
37:11the MIR station without any obstacles.
37:16Despite its increased agility,
37:19it took ten years to finish the construction
37:22of the space station.
37:27But the new space suit made it much easier
37:30to assemble a structure of that shape and size
37:33in space.
37:36Today, at the International Space Station,
37:39a new module,
37:42a prefabricated scientific laboratory,
37:45is going to be installed.
37:48The astronaut Res Wolheim
37:51checks his space suit
37:54before his seven-hour extravehicular walk
37:57to install the module to the station's helmet.
38:00The space suit is designed
38:02to be used in space.
38:05We have received the expected messages
38:08and we are still waiting for Rex's suit to be air-conditioned.
38:11To prepare for this,
38:14Rex has trained for more than 200 hours on Earth.
38:17Okay, received.
38:20We are still waiting.
38:23This water tank in the Johnson Space Center
38:26recreates an almost pregnant environment
38:29so that the astronauts can prepare.
38:33We call this facility
38:36a neutral floatability laboratory
38:39because basically in the water we can wear the same suit
38:42that we wear in space during extravehicular walks.
38:45And the submariners who help us
38:48can add weight or polystyrene foam to our suits
38:51so that we have neutral floatability,
38:54which is something like pregnancy.
38:57At the bottom of this pool there is a replica of the space station.
38:59Underwater, the astronauts
39:02get used to maneuvering around the helmet.
39:07In their space suits they have reduced mobility.
39:11There is a compression problem in the gloves.
39:15Yes, I have a problem with the end of the gloves.
39:20The cumbersome space suit
39:23makes a simple task like turning an English key
39:26quite a challenge.
39:29The helmet is touching...
39:32It's not bad with the torch
39:35and cutting all the cables.
39:48At the real space station,
39:51Rex's first task is to download the transporter module.
39:55Okay, I'm ready.
39:57The 10-tonne laboratory
40:00may be pregnant in space,
40:03but to move this structure it needs help.
40:11Fortunately for Rex,
40:14the Canadian Space Agency has developed a special arm
40:17made up of seven motorised segments.
40:20The arm is firmly anchored
40:23in the station's helmet doors.
40:25A removable hand
40:28lifts objects
40:31and helps with the construction.
40:46The crew uses the arm
40:49to unload the laboratory.
40:52Good job.
40:55What?
40:58Come down a bit now.
41:01The arm bends to fit the module
41:04in its docking point.
41:07One metre to go.
41:10Received.
41:13Then Rex finishes docking the laboratory by hand.
41:16We're a bit stuck.
41:19Okay, okay, thanks.
41:22In just a few days the laboratory will be in operation.
41:25Excellent work, guys.
41:29In 1986,
41:32Soviet engineers solved the problem of building and assembling
41:35a space station of a colossal size.
41:42But a structure as large as the International Space Station
41:45presented a new challenge.
41:51Its size makes it an easy target
41:53for accidental collisions.
42:00Fifth step, safety.
42:07Today, the International Space Station's crew
42:10lives with the constant threat
42:13of being hit by a flying object.
42:17More than 100,000 pieces of rockets and satellites
42:19litter the trajectory of the space station.
42:25This is a real-time image
42:28of the space debris orbiting in a deadly way.
42:33NASA uses radars
42:36to locate the largest remains
42:39and displaces the station from risky locations.
42:45But the biggest threat comes from the remains
42:47that are too small to be located.
42:53Something as tiny as a grain of sand at orbital speed
42:56could acquire enough speed
42:59to break the station's hull,
43:03cause depressurization
43:06and kill the astronauts.
43:12In the Johnson Space Center,
43:14scientists can recreate one of these debris attacks.
43:20They place a small piece of aluminum
43:23in a special gun
43:26and shoot it at 25,000 kilometers per hour
43:32in a sample of the station's hull.
43:38This would be a complete sample.
43:41This is the impacted part
43:44The bubble has practically exploded behind like a balloon.
43:47Small pieces have come off
43:50at the speed of a hand grenade.
43:53This would be the interior of the vehicle.
43:56If there were personnel here
43:59and these pieces came off,
44:02it would be very dangerous
44:05and would cause a lot of damage to the crew.
44:08Engineers have discovered
44:11that a thick sheet of aluminum
44:14would enter and reach this
44:17and because of the high speed at which the particle moves,
44:20as it goes through this sheet, it shakes the particle.
44:23Basically, it fragments it.
44:26And as it exits on this side,
44:29it goes a little bit slower, but it forms a cloud of debris.
44:32It looks like a kind of fragmented material balloon.
44:35And that spreads out and you can see
44:38that when it reaches the wall that we're trying to protect,
44:41it's spread out.
44:45To increase the protection,
44:48the engineers cover the hole with the same material
44:51that is used for bulletproof vests, Kevlar.
44:59Now, when an object enters the outer layer,
45:02Kevlar receives the impact of the cloud of debris,
45:05leaving the inner layer intact.
45:10The engineers protected the most vulnerable parts
45:12of the space station.
45:21They even placed windows to protect the windows
45:24when they are not used.
45:30This technology could be used one day
45:33to protect advancements on the Moon or Mars,
45:36where, unlike on Earth, there is little or no atmosphere
45:39that absorbs the impact of dust and falling stones.
45:42This technology could be used one day
45:45to protect the space station.
45:52Secures behind their aluminum shield and Kevlar,
45:55Mike Fink and his team can now work
45:58in the new Columbus laboratory.
46:03Here we are in the Columbus module,
46:06the pride of the European Space Agency.
46:09This is exactly how we work and live in space,
46:12and I hope you have enjoyed the visit.
46:15Here, Mike Fink says goodbye and thanks.
46:18The International Space Station has paved the way
46:21for man to inhabit other worlds.
46:24It is truly the most advanced spaceship,
46:27until another, even bigger, is built.
46:42NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
47:12NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology