Waiting to Dock > With Nicholas Previsich

Like the early seaport colonies in the Americas and elsewhere, the ISS is facing a bit of a harbor traffic jam these days. As Jules Verne waits patiently in orbit for its turn to dock, the Shuttle Endeavour as lifted of from Kennedy early Tuesday morning with the first of three segments of Japan's Kibo laboratory.

Kibo will be an extraordinary addition to the ISS's capabilities. In addition to its numerous microgravity experimentation facilities, it will also provide a hard-vacuum exposure platform that can be handled and maintained via a versatile manipulator arm; no spacewalks needed, which will simplify the astronauts' workload and minimize risk. Yet another tentative dip into the new ocean, with new things always waiting to be found; welcome to this special place and this special time, Kibo!

Again, though, it is amazing to contemplate the fact that the Space Station already has a docking traffic backlog. Japan will enter the traffic flow directly in 2009 with the first launch of the HTV, another resupply vehicle with significant manned spaceflight potential...

How reminiscent this is in some ways of the early days of aviation. There was no need for air traffic control in the early decades of the 20th Century, when aircraft were so novel that the sight of one landing often drew crowds. Who then could have foreseen the controlled chaos that is a modern large international airport, much less the fantastic machines that hurl themselves into the air many times an hour with hundreds of people and tons of cargo bound for destinations that the ground-bound of earlier eras may have barely known from tales of adventure or historical lessons?

This particular transformation occurred within the span of a human lifetime. It seemed slow and impossible at first, but suddenly exploded in all directions.

Evolution is like that; perhaps some of us now living will be lucky enough to witness it happening in Earth orbit...and beyond.

Nicholas Previsich

Resident Columnist