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Mom and 2 sisters

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Mom, sister and brother

I expect you've all seen John Betjeman Goes By Train, a 1950s telly discourse on the charms of the branch line (since closed) along the Norfolk coast. During the film the great man avers that Hunstanton should be pronounced "Hunston" and Snettisham as "Snetchum". I'm a bit doubtful about this and, domiciled not far away for some nine years now, have never heard either place pronounced like this. Betjeman's daughter, Candida Lycett-Green, mentioned once that she suffered embarassment in later years because her father taught her as a girl that a well-known Bristol Channel resort was pronounced "Weston-super-Marry.

Anyway, on my few visits to Hunstanton I've never known the weather to be other than vile. Towards the end of the winter, on what seemed, in our back garden, quite a balmy day, we took our dog with us. The poor pooch, swaddled in his doggy overcoat, stood on the pebbles shivering in any icy blast straight from the fjords. On the occasion illustrated, in mid-June, rain slanted unrelentingly down from a sky like a clammy sheet. We took refuge in one of those pubs with a built-out glass structure wherein old-age pensioners tuck into their £6.50 three-course lunches and request glasses of "medium dry white wine" as an accompaniment.

So rather a joyless outing. I took the above during what promised to be a cessation of the rain, but soon proved a mere pause. A few dunlin sheltered in the lee of a groyne. Once we had ventured far from shelter the rain resumed with new tenacity. Having suffered some recent focus malfunctions with my autofocus Fuji GA645Zi ...I'll have to adapt my technique... I once more took up the same maker's GW690 II and used its smallest aperture, f32, to ensure front-to-back sharpness.

Well, what did you expect ;-)

 

Filmed by Andy - Sony Handycam HDR-CX730E + Raynox HD2025PRO 2x extender edited in Sony Vegas

 

The Music is courtesy of Tony Haven www.tonyhaven.com/

NEZUMI NO GOCHISO (1978)

Yutaka Sugita

Expect Excellence Heel from ModCloth

Tights for Every Occasion in Family Dinner from ModCloth

expecting a baby #baby #expecting #patchworkapp #flatdesign #illustration #design #graphic #art #vector #graphicdesign #digitalart #geometry #iconic #mimimal #love #kawaii #cute #tokyo #japan #nemury #イラスト #幾何学 #フラットデザイン #妊娠

Brad and Steph are awaiting the arrival of their third daughter. Should be any day now....

 

Strobist with Pentax 360 FGZ with silver umbrella to left, natural light from window on the right. Triggered with Cactus V2s. I didn't use much light from the flash because I didn't want to loose the feel of the natural light. I used just enough to fill in the shadows a tiny bit.

 

Blogged: www.scotthawker.com/blog/ladyhawker/2008/02/02/Have-strob...

37608 on 7E25 09:14 Crewe South Yard - Attercliffe Sidings EWS at Bathpool Park 16/10/2024

 

We were expecting it to slip and struggle here with it absolutely pissing down but unfortunately she came storming out of the tunnel and up the bank sadly.... to add insult to injury it was mega late thus made chasing it for a 2nd shot impossible.

My ex wife and I have joint custody and she's agreed to buy the food and I'll raise the kitties!

true life =/ !*

   

** PLEASE ASK ME BEFORE USING ANY OF MY WORK.

”You did rather well against Cain. Better than I expected.”

 

”Try not to sound too sarcastic.”

 

”I’m not. You genuinely did better than I expected.”

 

”Oh?”

 

”I thought Cain would have killed you.”

 

”Well he wasn’t exactly friendly. The stab wound on my back would agree to that.”

 

”It’s a lesson. You’ll know never to allow your opponent to dictate the position of your body again.”

 

”AHHHH! Watch it will ya?”

 

”I can leave it to get infected if you really want.”

 

”No it’s just…”

 

”Sore? I’d hope so. Last thing I want is for Cain to be going easy on you.”

 

”Your concern is greatly apprecia…….ah Christ!”

 

”Stop being such a cry baby. Face the consequences of your actions.”

 

”I am!”

 

”I don’t just mean this wound. You also must confront what your actions caused that night in Crime alley.”

 

”I do. Every single day I open my eyes.”

 

”You dream about the life you might have had had you simply managed to sit through the show. The life you’ve always wanted. With them….”

 

”Leave them out of this.”

 

”It’s unavoidable. They’re part of you, and thus they can never be left in the past. No matter how desperately you attempt to bury their memory.”

 

”Stop talking about them.”

 

”Your inability to discuss them freely confirms my suspicions. Like most, you fear the consequences of your actions and rather than confront them, you choose to deny them.”

 

”I’m warning you Talia. Stop mentioning them.”

 

”Or what? You’ll lash out at me in anger? Run as you’ve always done? Or will you be a man and confront the consequences of your actions. Take responsibility for all that you have done.”

 

”There was nothing I could do.”

 

”There’s always something that can be done Bruce. You simply need the will to act.”

 

Despite my attempts to purge the memories of that night in Crime alley, it’s inescapable. Then again, the truth often is….

 

“Thomas are you sure we should be walking out the back door of the theatre? Surely we could just walk out the front door.”

 

“Yeah we could do Martha but it’ll take us five minutes to get to Alfred through the sea of press. This way he can pick us up at the end of the alley without being hounded by the press and we can get Bruce back to bed. He does have school tomorrow after all.”

  

“Well I don't like the look of this place. Stay close to me Bruce.”

 

“Alright Mom. But I think we’ll be all right. Father tends to know best after all.”

 

“Well I wouldn’t go that far, but he does know Gotham better than most people so I’m sure he knows what he’s doing. Come along.”

 

“Well, well. Looks like we’ve got the whole Wayne brigade out tonight!”

 

The figure remains hidden in the shadows but raises his right hand to reveal a gun. Mother panics and grabs hold of me. Father pulls out his wallet from his inside suit pocket and reaches into it before pulling out all the money he has.

 

“Pffft you think I can be bought off just like that? Sorry Wayne, but it’s not money I’m after. It’s vengeance.”

 

“Vengeance? What have I done to you? What has my family ever done to you?”

 

<“You’ve done a lot to me, even if you don’t want to admit it. Tommy.”

 

“Tommy?”

 

“Here’s a hint.”

 

Instinctively, I race forward and grab the robber’s hand before he has a chance to pull the trigger.

 

“Bruce!”

 

In the distance I hear Mother calling out to me but I’m transfixed on ensuring that I don’t let go of this guy’s hand. Almost immediately, my Father comes to my aid and punches our attacker in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Before the robber has a chance to make another move, I bite his hand causing him to drop the gun.

 

“AHHH! YOU LITTLE BASTARD!”

 

Immediately, he takes a swing towards me only to be greeted by my Father’s fist. Evidently it was a hell of a blow as the assailant collapses to the ground.

 

”Martha. Take Bruce. Get Alfred.”

 

“But Thomas…”

 

”JUST DO IT!”

 

Without another word, Mother follows Father’s instructions and grabs hold of my hand to lead me out of the alley way as Father picks up the gun.

 

Deep down, I dream of that scenario every night. Or at least, I tell myself that I do. What might have happened had I been willing to act. Would they have still died? Or would my life have changed for the better? Sadly, there’s no way that I’ll ever know. All I can do now is look forward and accept that I can’t change the past. But I can change the future. My future.

 

”If it wasn’t for me. They’d still be here.”

 

”It’s possible.”

 

”I know that they would be.”

 

”It’s a big world Bruce. You can’t stop it from taking lives.”

 

”No, but I could have stopped it had I not been born.”

 

”…You shouldn’t things like that?”

 

”Why? It’s true. The world would be a better place were it not for me. My father probably would have transformed Gotham into the perfect utopia he envision, my Mother would have eliminated poverty in Gotham and Alfred would probably be more than happy not having to raise an ungrateful little brat.”

 

”You really think the world would be better without you?”

 

”I don’t think it would be. I know it would be. I have nothing worth living for without them, at least if I’d died they would have had each. ”

 

Talia pauses for a moment, clearly uncertain about what she’s just unearthed within me. After a good few seconds though, she responds by lifting her blade from the nearby table and presenting the hilt to me.

 

”What are you doing?”

 

”If you really have nothing to live for. Why draw things out any longer?”

 

To say her response caught me by surprise would be an understatement. Talia had hardly been the living embodiment of friendship, but her willingness to allow me to take my own life caught me off guard. This wasn’t the first time I’d considered suicide. Hell I almost jumped off the roof of Wayne Manor hours after my parents were gunned down. But to see someone willing to indulge my desire threw everything in perspective.

 

As I grabbed the hilt of her blade and took a moment to inspect it, my mind was racing whilst trying to decide what action to take. Am I brave enough to take my own life? Is it that simple? Can I do it?.....Is it what I want?

 

My hesitation on performing the act says it all to Talia though, and she proceeds to slowly walk up to me and gently take the blade from me. Unable to move due to my indecision, I simply stand still and watch as she returns the blade to its spot on the table.

 

What comes next though is what shocks me the most.

 

Talia walks up to me, I fear she’s about to punish me for considering the coward’s way out.

 

Instead, she simply grabs hold my hands and looks straight into my eyes.

 

”We all have something to live for Bruce. For good or bad. Whether you want to admit it or not, there are people who would miss you if you were gone.”

 

With that, she kisses me on my left cheek.

 

Miraculous. I’d seen Talia gut men before my very eyes and be more than dismissive about my chances of survival under her father’s tuition, and yet in those few moments. I saw something beautiful. I saw the real Talia Al-Ghul.

 

”You’ll always matter here. Don’t ever forget that.”

 

-----

 

Happy Batman day everyone!

Here's a share from this past weekends maternity session. We mainly shot indoors using two different outfits but I'm very glad we got this one in at the end. She loved it...and that's all that mattered to me.

 

Thanks for viewing!

 

Jesse Rinka | Photographer

Website | Facebook | 500px | Instagram

As seen on Market Street, San Francisco.

Not one I expected to make the grade

 

1. Pukeko 'Hoki Koki', 2. Lock-Down, 3. Koru, 4. Lurking in the Shadows, 5. Wasp, 6. Tongariro Dawn, 7. Monochrome, 8. Royal Spoonbill,

 

9. Juvenile on a Tombstone, 10. Fearsome Yawn, 11. Spur-Winged Plovers, 12. "Nevermore", 13. Portrait of a Juvenile Magpie, 14. Back-Lighting, 15. Kea, 16. Flying Reptile,

 

17. Heron in Rain, 18. Kingfisher Perch, 19. Looking back to Ngauruhoe, 20. Magpie Fly-By, 21. Starfish Gathering, 22. Winter, 23. Tiger - Auckland Zoo, 24. Kelp Gull Flight,

 

25. Gazing at a Sunset Sky, 26. Albatross Fly-By, 27. Ruapehu Sunrise, 28. Dead Leaf, 29. Fungi on Pandora, 30. Land of Rainbows, 31. Kealakekua Bay, 32. Golden Plover,

 

33. Motutara, 34. Huge Ice, 35. A Walk in the Park, 36. MY POND!, 37. Tembo, 38. Clouds Over Ruapehu, 39. In-Flight Kingfisher, 40. Stone Carving,

 

41. Spoonbill Flight, 42. The Wild, Wild West, 43. Raven in Juneau, 44. Poles, 45. Brothers, 46. Close-Up in Kaikoura, 47. Tawhai Falls - Slow, 48. Legs,

 

49. Someone Did Not, 50. Sitting Bull, 51. Red-Tailed Black Cockatoo, 52. Little, Lost Bear, 53. Negative Tone - Positive Colour, 54. Winter Rocks, 55. Tui in the Bush, 56. Starfish on the Move,

 

57. Black Sand Balls, 58. Flax Head, 59. Walk This Way, 60. Only a Yawn, 61. Octopus, 62. Flower of Scotland, 63. Pachyderms, 64. Sparrow on the Wharf,

 

65. North Island Robin, 66. White-Faced Heron, 67. Saltwater Crocodile, 68. Huka Falls, 69. Kaikoura Sunset Sky, 70. Penny the Cat, 71. Pygmy Marmoset, 72. Soaring South of Kaikoura

Second maternity shoot I've done, this is a photography classmate who is 21 weeks pregnant.

You wander through a house like Crewe Hall, and you expect to see the formal portraits, the heavy woodwork, the grand architectural details. But you don't always expect the playful touches. This corner of the gallery has all the classic elements—the beautifully carved, dark wood archway with its floral motifs, the heavy fretwork of the stair rail, and a row of serious ancestors staring out from their heavy, gilded frames. That portrait of the gentleman in the purple and white ecclesiastical robes is particularly striking, adding a nice pop of color to the otherwise muted white wall.

 

But the real star of the frame is that painted wooden figure standing in the corner. He's dressed like a character from an old story—a crimson and gold tunic with decorative braiding, contrasting green sleeves, dark brown boots, and a curling mustache that gives him a wonderfully theatrical expression. His plush, turban-style hat sits high on his head, and he looks like he's been standing right there for generations, keeping an eye on the room without making a fuss. He's perched on a beautifully carved, dark wood pedestal that matches the architectural details around him. It's a wonderful juxtaposition—the formal, solemn ancestors in their frames, and this colorful, slightly eccentric little guard standing watch right beside them.

You can't expect more than this:

this half-frame PEN EE is the two speed model, bought in 1963 by the first owner, as you can see in the invoice :)

 

Olympus PEN EE

 

August

1961 presented the

 

Olympus PEN EE

 

which was, compared to the models before, completely newly constructed. The PEN EE was now with a selenium light meter and the meter cell around the lens. The former models needed manual exposure setting but the PEN EE had an automatic setting.

The PEN EE was a real snap shot camera.

Due to the fair sales price, this small camera was very popular and sold in high numbers.

The cameras from 1961 were marked on front with Olympus, the cameras built since 1962 with Olympus PEN.

Specifications Type: Olympus PEN EE

 

Engraving: Olympus - PEN (first models only OLYMPUS)

PEN - EE (on top)

Release date: Juli 1961

Body color: chrom, parts gray

Leather color: gray

Shutter: Copal - X automatic

Shutter-Speeds: 1/60 sec. fix - on later models was 1/30 & 1/250

Flash syncronisation: X

Finder: Bright frame

Rangefinder: none

Film-Advance: Thumb wheel at back

Exposure meter: Selenium

ASA: 10 to 200

Battery: none

Lens: D. Zuiko 1:3.5 f = 2.8 cm

F-Stop range: 3.5 to 16 automatic

Focusing: Fixed focus lens

Elements: 4

Groups: 3

 

-unknown author

 

Not bright colours-it's not for me;) Have taken it near my bookcase just because the light was so wonderful! However it's not so on the processed one I think;(

 

I decided to put SOOC here so you can compare both pictures.

 

more details here | formspring | twitter

Expecting and nursing mothers require social protection but workers in the informal economy are often not covered. Maternity protection has been a primary concern of the ILO since its creation in 1919. Workplace support for mothers who are breastfeeding has been a basic provision of maternity protection. The Philippines expanded maternity leave benefits in 2019 to align with international labour standards. The ILO also promoted exclusive breastfeeding in the workplace to advance women’s rights to maternity protection and to improve nutrition security for Filipino children.

 

Photo : E. Tuyay / ILO

 

Date : 2011/11

 

Country : Philippines

 

A lot more luxurious than I expected.

Expecting and nursing mothers require social protection but workers in the informal economy are often not covered. Maternity protection has been a primary concern of the ILO since its creation in 1919. Workplace support for mothers who are breastfeeding has been a basic provision of maternity protection. The Philippines expanded maternity leave benefits in 2019 to align with international labour standards. The ILO also promoted exclusive breastfeeding in the workplace to advance women’s rights to maternity protection and to improve nutrition security for Filipino children.

 

Photo : E. Tuyay / ILO

 

Date : 2011/11

 

Country : Philippines

 

Nikon FG Nikkor 28-85mm f3.5-4.5

Model Daniëlle, 7 months pregnant

Chinstrap Penguin-Half Moon Island

...to enjoy the most...

 

The strange feeling I had at this moment is impossible to describe... A mist of sadness, happiness, gratefulness...

This was the ending of a beautiful weekend...

 

TY! **

 

See more ☼sets here

 

expecting to growth family

new camera for modern times m8.2

Two friends, expecting with in a month or two of each other, making a memory.

I need to get this off my chest.

 

I love churchcrawling, the visiting and photographing of churches, I have learned so much, met some wonderful people and seen some wonderful buildings and details.

 

But sadly, it's those places that you receive a less that welcoming reception that sticks in your memory.

 

The one place I wasn't welcomed before last weekend was Dartford, where the warden wasn't going to let me take photos.

 

Se did in the end, and was very happy as I pointed out things she didn't know.

 

Anyway, on to St Dunstan.

 

We arrived from East Peckham, with me not expecting the church to be open, but it was.

 

THere was a one way system marked out on the floor, but as we were the only ones there, we didn't follow it. Nor did I see a board with requirements for being masked.

 

About halfway through the visit, a warden came and hissed at us that we should be masked. This we dd willingly, but it was clear she was angry with us.

 

I carried on taking shots.

 

A second came in and complained that the gate to the porch was open, we were not the last ones to enter the church, but there you go.

 

And as we left, our welcome clearly at en end, the second complained about people visiting the church.

 

It was open.

 

She didn't say it loudly, but loud enough to hear.

 

Sad then that St Dunstan is in my top ten Kentish churches, so full of detail and delight.

 

And it is a delight.

 

As usual I had not read up on what I would see inside the church, so was stunned by the Geary Family Pew, now so elevated above the tomb it sits on, that those look down as if from a balcony.

 

Here too is a fine wall mounted memorial, with the two looking at each other through eternity, while above, hatchments fill the wooden roof.

 

------------------------------------------

 

Saxo-Norman, with a good early double-splayed window on the south face of the tower. The church is small, dark and welcoming, dating in the greater part from the fourteenth century. The north chapel contains the private pew of the Geary family. When the burial vault beneath became full the floor of the pew was raised by 8 ft to provide more burial space, creating a solid-floored galleried pew! It is panelled and benched and appears to be of expensive construction although closer inspection reveals that it is made of cheap wood grained and painted to look like oak! On the ceiling of the pew is a good collection of hatchments, and the top of the earlier monuments, lost when the floor was raised, may still be seen. Behind the altar is a series of continental wooden statues representing the Twelve Apostles which were a twentieth century gift from Mereworth Castle. The chancel screen is also twentieth century in date, and although it is a good example of craftsmanship it is patently the wrong size - its loft is far too high for the medieval door opening that still survives in the north wall!

 

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=West+Peckham

 

-------------------------------------------

 

WEST, ALIAS LITTLE PECKHAM.

EASTWARD from Shipborne lies the parish of West, alias Little Peckham, called in Domesday, PECHEHAM, and in the Textus Roffensis, PECHAM.

 

It has the appellation of West Peckham, from its situation westward of Great, or East Peckham, and of Little, from its smallness in regard to that parish. They both probably had their name from their situation, peac signifying in Saxon, the peke, or summit of an hill, and ham, a village, or dwelling-place.

 

THE QUARRY STONE HILLS bound the northern side of this parish, consequently the whole of it is within the district of the Weald. The soil is in general a stiff clay, and in the lower or southern part of it where it is mostly pasture, it is very rich grazing land. The northern part adjoining to the hill is covered with those woods, commonly called the Herst woods, from which there are several fine springs of water, which extend over the eastern parts of this parish, where, near the boundary of it, next to Mereworth, is the village, with the church. The northern side of this parish is watered by the stream which flows hither from Plaxtool, and from hence into the Medway at Brandt-bridge, a little above Yaldham, having turned two corn-mills in its course within this parish. The seat of Hamptons, now almost in ruins, stands near the east side of this stream, in a wild gloomy situation, and at a small distance, that of Oxenhoath, an antient brick building, situated on a rise of ground, having a most extensive prospect over the Weald, and again to the hills north-eastward, the ground about it is finely wooded, and is the greatest part of it exceeding rich pasture.

 

There were antiently two parks in this parish, both of which were disparked at the time Lambarde wrote his Perambulation in 1570.

 

There is a fair held in this village yearly, on the 16th of June.

 

This parish, with others in this neighbourhood, was antiently bound to contribute to the repair of the fifth pier of Rochester bridge.

 

LITTLE PECKHAM before the conquest was in the possession of earl Leofwine, who as well as his brother, king Harold, lost their lives in the fatal battle of Hastings. After which William the Conqueror gave it to Odo, bishop of Baieux, his half-brother, whom he likewise made earl of Kent, under the general title of whose lands it is thus entered in the survey of Domesday, taken about the year 1080.

 

Corbin holds Pecheham of the bishop (of Baieux). It was taxed at two sulings; the arable land is six carucates. In demesne there is one, and twelve villeins, having five carucates, and eight borderers, and five servants, and three acres of meadow, wood for the pannage of ten bogs. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was worth twelve pounds, now eight pounds, and yet it yields twelve pounds. The king has of this manor three dens, where four villeins dwell, and are worth forty shillings. Earl Leuin held it.

 

On the disgrace of the bishop of Baieux, about four years afterwards, this among the rest of his estates was confiscated to the crown.

 

In the reign of king John, the manor of West Peckham, then valued at fifteen pounds, was held in sergeantry, by a family of the name of Bendeville, by the service of bearing one of the king's goshawks, beyond sea, from the feast of St. Michael to that of the Purification, when the king demanded it, in lieu of all other services. Soon after which it came into the possession of a family who took their surname from it.

 

John de Peckham held it in the reign of king Henry III. and his descendant, John de Peckham, died possessed of it in the 21st year of king Edward I. holding it in capite, by the service above-mentioned. (fn. 1) Soon after which it passed into the possession of Robert Scarlet, who died possessed of it in the 33d year of that reign, but in the next of king Edward II. Adam at Broke was possessed of it. He died in the 11th year of it, both of them holding it in capite by the service mentioned above. And it appears, that in the latter year it was accounted a manor, and that there were here a capital messuage, pidgeon-house, rents of assize, and one hundred and eighty-four acres of land and wood.

 

His widow, Dionisia at Broke, died possessed of it in the 5th year of king Edward III. after which this manor seems to have been separated into moieties.

 

John de Mereworth, of Mereworth, died in the 39th year of that reign, possessed of a moiety of the manor of West Peckham, which he held of the king in capite, by the service before mentioned. Since which it has passed through the same tract of ownership that the manor of Mereworth has; as may be more fully seen hereafter in the description of it, and it is now, as well as that manor, in the possession of the right hon. Thomas Stapleton, lord le Despencer.

 

THE OTHER MOIETY of the manor of West Peckham, after the death of Dionisia at Broke, in the 5th year of king Edward III. came into the possession of Lionel, duke of Clarence, the king's third son, in right of his wife Elizabeth, sole daughter and heir of William de Burgh, earl of Ulster. She died in the 38th year of that reign, leaving by him an only daughter, Philippa, surviving her, who died in the 43d year of it, and the duke being then possessed of the moiety of this manor, which he held by the law of England, as of the inheritance of Elizabeth his late wife deceased, in capite by knight's service, Philippa, his daughter above-mentioned, then countess of March, was found to be his next heir. Upon which Edmund Mortimer, earl of March, her husband, had possession granted of it that year. Soon after which this moiety came into the possession of that branch of the family of Colepeper settled at Oxenhoath, in this parish, in which it remained till Sir John Colepeper, one of the judges of the common pleas, in the reign of king Henry IV. gave it to the knight's hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem, in the 10th year of that reign, anno 1408.

 

They established a preceptory within this manor, which continued part of their possessions till the general dissolution of their hospital in the 32d year of king Henry VIII. when this order was suppressed by an act then specially passed for that purpose, and all their lands and revenues were given by it to the king and his heirs for ever. It was at that time stiled the Preceptory, or commandery of West Peckham, otherwise called the Chantry Magistrale. A preceptory or commandery, was a convenient mansion belonging to these knights, of which sort they had several on their different estates, in each of which they had a society of their brethren placed to take care of their lands and rents in that respective neighbourhood.

 

This manor of West Peckham, for so it was then stiled, together with the preceptory, was valued at the above dissolution at 63l. 6s. 8d. annual revenue, and sixty pounds clear income.

 

King Henry VIII. in his 33d year, granted the fee of this manor, with it appurtenances to Sir Robert Southwell, of Mereworth, to hold in capite by knight's service, and he in the 35th year of that reign, alienated it to Sir Edmund Walsingham. In which name and family this manor continued till the latter end of the reign of king Charles I. when Sir Thomas Walsingham, of Scadbury, (fn. 2) alienated it, with Yokes-place, and other estates in this neighbourhood, to his son in law, Mr. James Master, of Yokes, in the adjoining parish of Mereworth, Sir Tho. Walsingham having married the widow of Mr. Nathaniel Master, Mr. James Master's father; since which it has passed in like manner as that seat, into the possession of the right hon. George Bing, viscount Torrington, the present possessor of it.

 

HAMPTONS is a seat in this parish, situated at the western extremity of it, which, as well as the borough of that name, is accounted within the hundred and manor of Great Hoo, near Rochester. In the reign of queen Elizabeth it was in the possession of John Stanley, gent. who resided here, being the son of W. Stanley, gent. of Wilmington, whose grandfather, John Stanley, gent. was of Wilmington, in Lancashire, and bore for his arms, Argent, on a bend, azure, three bucks heads caboshed, or, a chief gules. And it appears, by an antient pedigree of the family of Stanley, well drawn with the several bearings of arms, now in the hands of William Dalison, esq. that the Stanleys of this county were descended of the eldest branch of that family, being the direct descendants of William de Stanley, lord of Stanley, in Staffordshire, and of Stourton, in the 10th year of king Richard II. the elder brother to John de Stanley, lieutenant of Ireland, who by the daughter and heir of Latham, of Lancashire, was ancestor to the Stanleys, earls of Derby, of the lords Montegle, and of those of Holte and Wever. (fn. 3) He died possessed of this seat in 1616, and his eldest son Thomas Stanley, esq. of Hamptons, dying in 1668, was buried in this church near his father. He left issue an only daughter and heir Frances, married to Maximilian Dalyson, esq. of Halling, who in her right became entitled to this seat, to which he removed on her father's death.

 

This family of Dalyson is of good account for its antiquity in this kingdom. William d'Alanzon, the first ancestor recorded of it, is said to have landed in this kingdom with William the Conqueror, whose direct descendant in the eighth generation, was of Laughton, in Lincolnshire, and first wrote himself Dalyson. His great grandson, William Dalyson, esq. of Laughton, was sheriff and escheator of Lincolnshire, and died in 1546, leaving two sons and three daughters; George Dalyson, the eldest son, was of Laughton, whose grandson, Sir Roger Dalyson, was lieutenant-general of the ordnance, and was created a baronet in 1611.

 

William Dalyson, the second son, represented the county of Lincoln in parliament in 1554, and was afterwards one of the judges of the king s bench, in the time of queen Mary, whose coat of arms, Gules, three crescents, or, a canton ermine, are still remaining in a window in Grays-inn chapel, and in another window is a like coat belonging to Charles Dalyson, anno 1660. He died in 1558, and was buried in Lincoln cathedral. He left four sons, of whom William, the eldest, will be mentioned hereafter, and Thomas was of Greetwell, in Lincolnshire, and was afterwards knighted. Lloyd in his memoirs says, Sir Thomas Dalyson, of Lancashire, lost his life for his loyalty at Nazeby, and 12,000l. in his estate, and that there were three colonels more of this name in the king's army, viz. Sir Charles Dalyson, Sir Robert Dalyson, and Sir William Dalyson, who spent 130,000l. therein, being men of great command in their country, and bringing the strength thereof to the king's assistance.

 

William Dalyson, the eldest son, on his marriage with Silvester, daughter of Robert Dene, gent. of Halling, in this county, in 1573 settled in this county, and resided at the bishop's palace, in Halling,' where he died in 1585, and was buried in Clerkenwell church. His widow afterwards married William Lambarde, gent. of Greenwich, our Kentish perambulator, and dying in 1587, was buried in Halling church, leaving issue by both her husbands.

 

Maximilian Dalyson, esq. the direct descendant of William Dalyson, by Silvester his wife, resided, in like manner as his ancestors had done at Halling, but having married Frances, only daughter and heir of Thomas Stanley, gent. of Hamptons, in this parish, as has been before related, on the death of her father, he removed thither, where he died in 1671, and was buried in this church, as was Frances his wife, who survived him, and died in 1684. They left two surviving sons, Thomas, of whom hereafter; and Charles, who was of Chatham, gent.

 

Thomas Dalyson, esq. the eldest son, of Hamptons, was twice married; first, to Susan, daughter of Sir Thomas Style, bart. of Watringbury; and secondly, to Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Twisden, bart. of Bradborne, by the latter of whom he had no issue. He died in 1636, leaving by his first wife a daughter Elizabeth, who married John Boys, esq. of Hode-court, in this county, and Tho. Dalyson, esq. who was of Plaxtool, where he resided during his father's life-time, and afterwards removed to Hamptons, where he died in 1741, and was buried in Plaxtool chapel, as were his several descendants.

 

He married first Jane, only daughter of Richard Etherington, gent. of Essex, by whom he left Mary, who died unmarried, and Jane, who married Sir Jeffery Amherst, of Riverhead, afterwards created lord Amherst. His second wife was Isabella, second daughter of Peter Burrell, esq. of Beckenham, who surviving him, died in 1762. By her he had William, of whom further mention will be made hereafter. Frances Isabella married to William Daniel Master, esq. of Mereworth, and Thomas Dalison, clerk, A. M. Wm. Dalison, esq. the eldest son, is the present possessor of Hamptons, but resides at Plaxtool, and is as yet unmarried.

 

The family of Dalyson, of Hamptons, has a right to quarter the arms of Stanley, and with them the coats of Hooton, Houghton, Grosvenor and Harrington; and with those of Dalyson, the coats of Elkinton, Greenfield, Dighton and Blesby.

 

THE BOROUGH OF OXENHOATH in this parish, is within the hundred and manor of Hoo, near Rochester, at the court of which a borsholder is appointed for this borough yearly.

 

THE MANOR OF OXENHOATH, alias Toxenhoath, is held of the manor of Great Hoo, by the service of the yearly payment of a pair of gilded spurs, but the payment of them has been forborne many years. It was in antient times part of the possessions of a branch of the family of Colepeper, or Culpeper, as they were called, and sometimes wrote themselves, in which it continued till it became part of the possessions of Sir John Colepeper, justice of common pleas, in the 7th year of king Henry IV. in the 10th year of which reign, he gave his manor of West Peckham to the knights hospitallers, as has been mentioned before. He resided at Oxenhoath, of which he died possessed in, or soon after, the 3d year of king Henry V. and was buried in this church with Katherine his wife, by whom he left Sir William Culpeper, of Oxenhoath, sheriff of this county in the 5th year of king Henry VI. whose son, Sir John Colepeper, likewise resided here. His son, Sir William Colepeper, was of Aylesford, and sheriff in the 5th year of king Henry VI. By his wife, daughter of Ferrers, of Groby, he had three sons; Sir Richard Colepeper, of Oxenhoath, William, of Preston-hall, in Aylesford; and Jeffry.

 

Sir Richard Colepeper was sheriff in the 11th year of king Edward IV. and died possessed of Oxenhoath, in the 2d year of king Richard III. leaving by Isabella, daughter and coheir of Otwell Worceley, of Stamworth, three daughters, his coheirs, Margaret, married to William Cotton, third son of Sir Thomas Cotton, of Landwade, in Cambridgeshire; Joyce, to the lord Edmund Howard, younger son of Thomas, duke of Norfolk; and Elizabeth, to Henry Barham, of Teston. (fn. 4) And on the division of their inheritance, this estate was allotted to William Cotton, in right of his wife Margaret. He resided here, bearing for his arms, Sable, a chevron between three griffins heads erased, argent. (fn. 5) He was succeeded by his son, Sir Thomas Cotton, who alienated this manor to John Chowne, gent. of Fairlawne, and his great grandson, Sir George Chowne, of Fairlawne, intending to confine his possessions within Sussex, passed away this manor to Nicholas Miller, esq. of Horsnells Crouch, in Wrotham, sheriff of this county in the 8th year of king Charles I. who bore for his arms, Ermine, a fess gules, between three griffins heads erased, azure. He died in 1640, and was buried in Wrotham church, leaving by Jane his wife, daughter of John Polley, esq. of Preston, two surviving sons, Nicholas of Oxenhoath, and Mathew of Buckland, in Surry, and several daughters.

 

His eldest surviving son, Sir Nicholas Miller, resided at Oxenhoath, which he greatly, augmented and beautified. He died in 1658, leaving four sons and four daughters surviving, of whom Humphry became his heir; and Nicholas, to whom his grandfather, Ni cholas Miller, bequeathed his family seat of Crouch, in Wrotham, and other estates. Humphry Miller, esq. the eldest son, succeeded his father in this manor and seat, where he resided, and in 1660, was created a baronet, and in 1666 was sheriff of this county, and kept his shrievalty at Oxenhoath. He died in 1709, leaving a son and heir, Borlase, and a daughter, Elizabeth, who will be mentioned hereafter.

 

Sir Borlase Miller, bart. was of Oxenhoath, of which he died possessed in 1714, s. p. leaving his wife, Susanna, daughter of Thomas Medley, esq. of Sussex, surviving. On which this estate came by survivorship to Elizabeth his sister, before-mentioned, then the wise of Leonard Bartholomew, esq. of Rochester, who afterwards resided at Oxenhoath, who served the office of sheriff in 1713, and bore for his arms, Or, three goats heads erased, sable. He died in 1720, being buried with Elizabeth his wife in this church, and leaving three sons, Philip, Leonard, and Humphry; the eldest of whom, Philip Bartholomew, esq. possessed and resided at Oxenhoath. He first married the only daughter and heir of Mr. John Knowe, gent. of Ford, in Wrotham; by whom he had two sons, Leonard, and John-Knowe-Bartholomew, the latter of whom died before his brother, without issue. He married secondly Mary, younger daughter of Alexander Thomas, esq. of Lamberhurst, by whom he had a daughter Mary, married to Francis Geary, esq.

 

Philip Bartholomew died in 1730, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Leonard Bartholomew, esq. who was of Oxenhoath. He died without issue in 1757, and by will gave Oxenhoath, with his other estates in this county, to the second son, then unborn, of Francis Geary, esq. of Polesdon, in Surry, afterwards admiral of the royal navy, and created a baronet on August 10, 1782, by Mary, his half sister abovementioned, in tail male, with remainder to the admi ral's eldest son, in like tail, remainder to the family of Beaumont, in Yorkshire.

 

His second son before mentioned was afterwards born and christened William, and his eldest brother having died unmarried, became his father's heir, and succeeded on his death in 1796, to the title of baronet, being the present Sir William Geary, bart. who resides at Oxenhoath, of which he is the present possessor. He is M. P. for this county, and at present unmarried. The arms of Geary are, Gules, two bars argent, on each three mascles of the first, a canton ermine.

 

Charities.

DAME MARY CHOWNE gave by will in 1619, to be distributed to the poor of this parish on Michaelmas day yearly, the sum of 40l. with which a house was bought, which is vested in trustees, and now of the annual produce of 40s.

 

THOMAS STANLEY, esq. gave by deed in 1637, to an aged married pair for life, or an antient widow, a house and land, vested in the churchwardens and overseers, and now of the annual produce of 1l 10s.

 

THE REV. SAMUEL COOKE gave by will in 1637, to ten poor persons of this parish yearly, on Lady-day, a sum of money, vested in the minister of this parish, and now of the annual produce of 5l.

 

NICHOLAS JAMES and THOMAS DUNMOLL gave by their several wills in 1695, 1705, and 1708, the sums of 20s. each, to be paid out of lands in this parish, and to be distributed to the poor on Christmas day, which sums are vested in the churchwardens and overseers, and now of the like annual produce.

 

MILDMAY, EARL OF WESTMORELAND, gave a field, containing two acres, to the inhabitants of this parish, for a sporting place and for a more commodious way to the church.

 

WEST OR LITTLE PECKHAM is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Rochester and deanry of Malling.

 

The church, which is dedicated to St. Dunstan, is a small building, with a low pointed steeple.

 

King Edward I. in his 14th year, granted to the prior and convent of Ledis, in this county, the advowson of the church of Parva Pecham, to hold in free, pure, and perpetual alms; and he granted that they should hold it appropriated to their own use, whensoever they would, without any hindrance of him, his heirs and successors. (fn. 6)

 

In the 21st of the above reign, a quo warranto was brought before the justices itinerant against the prior and convent, to enquire by what right they possessed this church, then valued at forty pounds per annum, and formerly in the king's gift; and on their pleading the above grant, the jury gave it for them.

 

In the reign of king Edward III. the valuation of this church was, forty acres of the endowment of it, twenty shillings hay; twenty shillings tithe of pannage and herbage; ten shillings tithe of geese, calves, pigs, and mills; with oblations and other small tithes belonging to it.

 

Bishop Thomas de Brinton, by his instrument in 1387, the 11th year of king Richard II. granted licence to the prior and convent of Ledes to appropriate this church, then vacant and of their own patronage, to their own uses, saving a competent vicarage in it, the presentation of which should belong to them, which he ordained to consist of all small tithes, oblations, obventions, pannages, and all other things belonging to the altarage, except the tithe of hay itself of the parish wheresoever, excepting of twenty acres of meadow, then belonging to the earl of Gloucester, in the western part of the parish; the tithe of which twenty acres the vicar of the church for the time being, should take and have for ever. And that the vicars themselves should have the hall, with the chambers adjoining to it, and the garden, together with four acres of land, with the tithe arising from them, and two acres of wood of the demesne of the church, as they were bounded off; and also two shillings annual rent, which John, called le Kinge, of this parish, and his heirs, should pay to the vicars for ever, for land which he held of the fee of this church, together with the tithes arising from it; and that the vicars should take all tithes in the gardens of the whole parish, which were dug with the foot. But that the prior and convent should, for their portion, sustain all burthens, as well ordinary and extraordinary, happening to the church, saving the right, dignity and custom of his church of Rochester, and of all others.

 

The advowson and parsonage of West Peckham continued with the priory of Leeds till the time of its dissolution in the reign of king Henry VIII. when the same, together with all the lands and revenues of it, was surrendered into the king's hands, after which the king, by his dotation-charter, in his 33d year, settled this church of Peckham Parva, and the advowson of the vicarage, on his new-erected dean and chapter of Rochester, with whom they now remain.

 

On the intended dissolution of deans and chapters, after the death of king Charles I. the parsonage of Little Peckham was surveyed in 1649; when it appeared that it consisted of a barn, yard, &c. and twentyfive acres and an half of glebe land, of the improved rent of sixty pounds per annum; which premises were let anno 13 Charles I. to James, Elizabeth, and Duke Stonehouse, for the term of their lives, or the longest liver of them, by the dean and chapter of Rochester, at the yearly rent of six pounds. In which lease the advowson was excepted, and the lessess covenanted to repair the premises, and the chancel of the parish church. (fn. 7)

 

The present lessee of this parsonage, under the dean and chapter, is Sir William Geary, bart.

 

In the reign of queen Anne, the small tithes of this vicarage amounted to about twelve pounds per annum. It had then an augmentation of fourteen pounds per annum which had been given to it by the dean and chapter of Rochester about the year 1690. There was likewise a small augmentation to it from John Warner, bishop of Rochester, of about ten pounds per annum, but not fixed to it.

 

The vicarage is now a discharged living, of the clear yearly certified value of forty-five pounds, the yearly tenths of which are 14s. 7d.

 

¶In 1732 it was augmented by the governors of queen Anne's bounty, and by the benefactions of one hundred pounds per annum, from the trustees of Sir William Langhorne, bart. being part of his legacy towards the augmentation of small livings, and of 100l. 17s. 6d. by Henry Burville, vicar of this parish, with which, and fifty pounds, added by George Richards, the succeeding vicar, a farm of fifteen pounds a year was purchased in this neighbourhood. The vicarage, which is a handsome sashed brick house, situated near the church, was built by the bounty of Philip Bartholomew, esq. of Oxenhoath.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol5/pp56-70

The International Space Station (ISS) is a space station (habitable artificial satellite) in low Earth orbit. The ISS programme is a joint project between five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada).[6][7] The ownership and use of the space station is established by intergovernmental treaties and agreements.[8]

 

The ISS serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory in which crew members conduct experiments in biology, human biology, physics, astronomy, meteorology, and other fields.[9][10][11] The station is suited for the testing of spacecraft systems and equipment required for missions to the Moon and Mars.[12] The ISS maintains an orbit with an average altitude of 400 kilometres (250 mi) by means of reboost manoeuvres using the engines of the Zvezda module or visiting spacecraft.[13] It circles the Earth in roughly 92 minutes and completes 15.5 orbits per day.[14]

 

The station is divided into two sections, the Russian Orbital Segment (ROS), which is operated by Russia, and the United States Orbital Segment (USOS), which is shared by many nations. Roscosmos has endorsed the continued operation of ISS through 2024,[15] but had previously proposed using elements of the Russian segment to construct a new Russian space station called OPSEK.[16]As of December 2018, the station is expected to operate until 2030.[17]

 

The first ISS component was launched in 1998, with the first long-term residents arriving on 2 November 2000.[18] Since then, the station has been continuously occupied for 18 years and 359 days.[19] This is the longest continuous human presence in low Earth orbit, having surpassed the previous record of 9 years and 357 days held by Mir. The latest major pressurised module was fitted in 2011, with an experimental inflatable space habitat added in 2016. Development and assembly of the station continues, with several major new Russian elements scheduled for launch starting in 2020. The ISS is the largest human-made body in low Earth orbit and can often be seen with the naked eye from Earth.[20][21] The ISS consists of pressurised habitation modules, structural trusses, solar arrays, radiators, docking ports, experiment bays and robotic arms. Major ISS modules have been launched by Russian Proton and Soyuz rockets and US Space Shuttles.[22]

 

The ISS is the ninth space station to be inhabited by crews, following the Soviet and later Russian Salyut, Almaz, and Mir stations as well as Skylab from the US. The station is serviced by a variety of visiting spacecraft: the Russian Soyuz and Progress, the US Dragon and Cygnus, the Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle,[6] and the European Automated Transfer Vehicle. The Dragon spacecraft allows the return of pressurised cargo to Earth (downmass), which is used for example to repatriate scientific experiments for further analysis. The Soyuz return capsule has minimal downmass capability next to the astronauts.

 

The ISS has been visited by astronauts, cosmonauts and space tourists from 18 different nations. As of 14 March 2019, 236 people from 18 countries had visited the space station, many of them multiple times. The United States sent 149 people, Russia sent 47, nine were Japanese, eight were Canadian, five were Italian, four were French, three were German, and there were one each from Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.[23]

Contents

 

1 Purpose

2 Manufacturing

3 Assembly

4 Structure

5 Systems

6 Operations

7 Mission controls

8 Fleet operations

9 Life aboard

10 Crew health and safety

11 Orbital debris threats

12 End of mission

13 Cost

14 International co-operation

15 Sightings from Earth

16 See also

17 Notes

18 References

19 Further reading

20 External links

 

Purpose

 

The ISS was originally intended to be a laboratory, observatory, and factory while providing transportation, maintenance, and a low Earth orbit staging base for possible future missions to the Moon, Mars, and asteroids. However, not all of the uses envisioned in the initial Memorandum of Understanding between NASA and Roskosmos have come to fruition.[24] In the 2010 United States National Space Policy, the ISS was given additional roles of serving commercial, diplomatic[25] and educational purposes.[26]

Scientific research

Main article: Scientific research on the International Space Station

Comet Lovejoy photographed by Expedition 30 commander Dan Burbank

Expedition 8 Commander and Science Officer Michael Foale conducts an inspection of the Microgravity Science Glovebox

Fisheye view of several labs

CubeSats are deployed by the NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer

 

The ISS provides a platform to conduct scientific research, with power, data, cooling, and crew available to support experiments. Small uncrewed spacecraft can also provide platforms for experiments, especially those involving zero gravity and exposure to space, but space stations offer a long-term environment where studies can be performed potentially for decades, combined with ready access by human researchers.[27][28]

 

The ISS simplifies individual experiments by allowing groups of experiments to share the same launches and crew time. Research is conducted in a wide variety of fields, including astrobiology, astronomy, physical sciences, materials science, space weather, meteorology, and human research including space medicine and the life sciences.[9][10][11][29][30] Scientists on Earth have timely access to the data and can suggest experimental modifications to the crew. If follow-on experiments are necessary, the routinely scheduled launches of resupply craft allows new hardware to be launched with relative ease.[28] Crews fly expeditions of several months' duration, providing approximately 160 person-hours per week of labour with a crew of 6. However, a considerable amount of crew time is taken up by station maintenance.[9][31]

 

Perhaps the most notable ISS experiment is the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS), which is intended to detect dark matter and answer other fundamental questions about our universe and is as important as the Hubble Space Telescope according to NASA. Currently docked on station, it could not have been easily accommodated on a free flying satellite platform because of its power and bandwidth needs.[32][33] On 3 April 2013, scientists reported that hints of dark matter may have been detected by the AMS.[34][35][36][37][38][39] According to the scientists, "The first results from the space-borne Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer confirm an unexplained excess of high-energy positrons in Earth-bound cosmic rays."

 

The space environment is hostile to life. Unprotected presence in space is characterised by an intense radiation field (consisting primarily of protons and other subatomic charged particles from the solar wind, in addition to cosmic rays), high vacuum, extreme temperatures, and microgravity.[40] Some simple forms of life called extremophiles,[41] as well as small invertebrates called tardigrades[42] can survive in this environment in an extremely dry state through desiccation.

 

Medical research improves knowledge about the effects of long-term space exposure on the human body, including muscle atrophy, bone loss, and fluid shift. This data will be used to determine whether high duration human spaceflight and space colonisation are feasible. As of 2006, data on bone loss and muscular atrophy suggest that there would be a significant risk of fractures and movement problems if astronauts landed on a planet after a lengthy interplanetary cruise, such as the six-month interval required to travel to Mars.[43][44]

 

Medical studies are conducted aboard the ISS on behalf of the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI). Prominent among these is the Advanced Diagnostic Ultrasound in Microgravity study in which astronauts perform ultrasound scans under the guidance of remote experts. The study considers the diagnosis and treatment of medical conditions in space. Usually, there is no physician on board the ISS and diagnosis of medical conditions is a challenge. It is anticipated that remotely guided ultrasound scans will have application on Earth in emergency and rural care situations where access to a trained physician is difficult.[45][46][47]

Free fall

ISS crew member storing samples

A comparison between the combustion of a candle on Earth (left) and in a free fall environment, such as that found on the ISS (right)

 

Gravity at the altitude of the ISS is approximately 90% as strong as at Earth's surface, but objects in orbit are in a continuous state of freefall, resulting in an apparent state of weightlessness.[48] This perceived weightlessness is disturbed by five separate effects:[49]

 

Drag from the residual atmosphere.

Vibration from the movements of mechanical systems and the crew.

Actuation of the on-board attitude control moment gyroscopes.

Thruster firings for attitude or orbital changes.

Gravity-gradient effects, also known as tidal effects. Items at different locations within the ISS would, if not attached to the station, follow slightly different orbits. Being mechanically interconnected these items experience small forces that keep the station moving as a rigid body.

 

Researchers are investigating the effect of the station's near-weightless environment on the evolution, development, growth and internal processes of plants and animals. In response to some of this data, NASA wants to investigate microgravity's effects on the growth of three-dimensional, human-like tissues, and the unusual protein crystals that can be formed in space.[10]

 

Investigating the physics of fluids in microgravity will provide better models of the behaviour of fluids. Because fluids can be almost completely combined in microgravity, physicists investigate fluids that do not mix well on Earth. In addition, examining reactions that are slowed by low gravity and low temperatures will improve our understanding of superconductivity.[10]

 

The study of materials science is an important ISS research activity, with the objective of reaping economic benefits through the improvement of techniques used on the ground.[50] Other areas of interest include the effect of the low gravity environment on combustion, through the study of the efficiency of burning and control of emissions and pollutants. These findings may improve current knowledge about energy production, and lead to economic and environmental benefits. Future plans are for the researchers aboard the ISS to examine aerosols, ozone, water vapour, and oxides in Earth's atmosphere, as well as cosmic rays, cosmic dust, antimatter, and dark matter in the universe.[10]

Exploration

A 3D plan of the Russia-based MARS-500 complex, used for ground-based experiments which complement ISS-based preparations for a human mission to Mars

 

The ISS provides a location in the relative safety of Low Earth Orbit to test spacecraft systems that will be required for long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars. This provides experience in operations, maintenance as well as repair and replacement activities on-orbit, which will be essential skills in operating spacecraft farther from Earth, mission risks can be reduced and the capabilities of interplanetary spacecraft advanced.[12] Referring to the MARS-500 experiment, ESA states that "Whereas the ISS is essential for answering questions concerning the possible impact of weightlessness, radiation and other space-specific factors, aspects such as the effect of long-term isolation and confinement can be more appropriately addressed via ground-based simulations".[51] Sergey Krasnov, the head of human space flight programmes for Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, in 2011 suggested a "shorter version" of MARS-500 may be carried out on the ISS.[52]

 

In 2009, noting the value of the partnership framework itself, Sergey Krasnov wrote, "When compared with partners acting separately, partners developing complementary abilities and resources could give us much more assurance of the success and safety of space exploration. The ISS is helping further advance near-Earth space exploration and realisation of prospective programmes of research and exploration of the Solar system, including the Moon and Mars."[53] A crewed mission to Mars may be a multinational effort involving space agencies and countries outside the current ISS partnership. In 2010, ESA Director-General Jean-Jacques Dordain stated his agency was ready to propose to the other four partners that China, India and South Korea be invited to join the ISS partnership.[54] NASA chief Charlie Bolden stated in February 2011, "Any mission to Mars is likely to be a global effort".[55] Currently, US federal legislation prevents NASA co-operation with China on space projects.[56]

Education and cultural outreach

Original Jules Verne manuscripts displayed by crew inside Jules Verne ATV

 

The ISS crew provides opportunities for students on Earth by running student-developed experiments, making educational demonstrations, allowing for student participation in classroom versions of ISS experiments, and directly engaging students using radio, videolink and email.[6][57] ESA offers a wide range of free teaching materials that can be downloaded for use in classrooms.[58] In one lesson, students can navigate a 3-D model of the interior and exterior of the ISS, and face spontaneous challenges to solve in real time.[59]

 

JAXA aims to inspire children to "pursue craftsmanship" and to heighten their "awareness of the importance of life and their responsibilities in society."[60] Through a series of education guides, a deeper understanding of the past and near-term future of crewed space flight, as well as that of Earth and life, will be learned.[61][62] In the JAXA Seeds in Space experiments, the mutation effects of spaceflight on plant seeds aboard the ISS is explored. Students grow sunflower seeds which flew on the ISS for about nine months. In the first phase of Kibō utilisation from 2008 to mid-2010, researchers from more than a dozen Japanese universities conducted experiments in diverse fields.[63]

Menu

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ESA Astronaut Paolo Nespoli's spoken voice, recorded about the ISS in November 2017, for Wikipedia

 

Cultural activities are another major objective. Tetsuo Tanaka, director of JAXA's Space Environment and Utilization Center, says "There is something about space that touches even people who are not interested in science."[64]

 

Amateur Radio on the ISS (ARISS) is a volunteer programme which encourages students worldwide to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics through amateur radio communications opportunities with the ISS crew. ARISS is an international working group, consisting of delegations from nine countries including several countries in Europe as well as Japan, Russia, Canada, and the United States. In areas where radio equipment cannot be used, speakerphones connect students to ground stations which then connect the calls to the station.[65]

 

First Orbit is a feature-length documentary film about Vostok 1, the first crewed space flight around the Earth. By matching the orbit of the International Space Station to that of Vostok 1 as closely as possible, in terms of ground path and time of day, documentary filmmaker Christopher Riley and ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli were able to film the view that Yuri Gagarin saw on his pioneering orbital space flight. This new footage was cut together with the original Vostok 1 mission audio recordings sourced from the Russian State Archive. Nespoli, during Expedition 26/27, filmed the majority of the footage for this documentary film, and as a result is credited as its director of photography.[66] The film was streamed through the website firstorbit.org in a global YouTube premiere in 2011, under a free licence.[67]

 

In May 2013, commander Chris Hadfield shot a music video of David Bowie's "Space Oddity" on board the station; the film was released on YouTube.[68] It was the first music video ever to be filmed in space.[69]

 

In November 2017, while participating in Expedition 52/53 on the ISS, Paolo Nespoli made two recordings (one in English the other in his native Italian) of his spoken voice, for use on Wikipedia articles. These were the first content made specifically for Wikipedia, in space.[70][71]

Manufacturing

Main article: Manufacturing of the International Space Station

ISS module Node 2 manufacturing and processing in the SSPF

 

Since the International Space Station is a multi-national collaborative project, the components for in-orbit assembly were manufactured in various countries around the world. Beginning in the mid 1990s, the U.S. components Destiny, Unity, the Integrated Truss Structure, and the solar arrays were fabricated at the Marshall Space Flight Center and the Michoud Assembly Facility. These modules were delivered to the Operations and Checkout Building and the Space Station Processing Facility for final assembly and processing for launch.[72]

 

The Russian modules, including Zarya and Zvezda, were manufactured at the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center in Moscow. Zvezda was initially manufactured in 1985 as a component for Mir-2, but was never launched and instead became the ISS Service Module.[73]

 

The European Space Agency Columbus module was manufactured at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in the Netherlands, along with many other contractors throughout Europe.[74] The other ESA-built modules - Harmony, Tranquility, the Leonardo MPLM, and the Cupola - were initially manufactured at the Thales Alenia Space factory located at the Cannes Mandelieu Space Center. The structural steel hulls of the modules were transported by aircraft to the Kennedy Space Center SSPF for launch processing.[75]

 

The Japanese Experiment Module Kibō, was fabricated in various technology manufacturing facilities in Japan, at the NASDA (now JAXA) Tanegashima Space Center, and the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science. The Kibo module was transported by ship and flown by aircraft to the KSC Space Station Processing Facility.[76]

 

The Mobile Servicing System, consisting of the Canadarm2 and the Dextre grapple fixture, was manufactured at various factories in Canada and the United States under contract by the Canadian Space Agency. The mobile base system, a connecting framework for Canadarm2 mounted on rails, was built by Northrop Grumman.

Assembly

Main articles: Assembly of the International Space Station and List of ISS spacewalks

 

The assembly of the International Space Station, a major endeavour in space architecture, began in November 1998.[3] Russian modules launched and docked robotically, with the exception of Rassvet. All other modules were delivered by the Space Shuttle, which required installation by ISS and shuttle crewmembers using the Canadarm2 (SSRMS) and extra-vehicular activities (EVAs); as of 5 June 2011, they had added 159 components during more than 1,000 hours of EVA (see List of ISS spacewalks). 127 of these spacewalks originated from the station, and the remaining 32 were launched from the airlocks of docked Space Shuttles.[77] The beta angle of the station had to be considered at all times during construction.[78]

 

The first module of the ISS, Zarya, was launched on 20 November 1998 on an autonomous Russian Proton rocket. It provided propulsion, attitude control, communications, electrical power, but lacked long-term life support functions. Two weeks later, a passive NASA module Unity was launched aboard Space Shuttle flight STS-88 and attached to Zarya by astronauts during EVAs. This module has two Pressurised Mating Adapter (PMAs), one connects permanently to Zarya, the other allowed the Space Shuttle to dock to the space station. At that time, the Russian station Mir was still inhabited, and the ISS remained uncrewed for two years. On 12 July 2000, Zvezda was launched into orbit. Preprogrammed commands on board deployed its solar arrays and communications antenna. It then became the passive target for a rendezvous with Zarya and Unity: it maintained a station-keeping orbit while the Zarya-Unity vehicle performed the rendezvous and docking via ground control and the Russian automated rendezvous and docking system. Zarya's computer transferred control of the station to Zvezda's computer soon after docking. Zvezda added sleeping quarters, a toilet, kitchen, CO2 scrubbers, dehumidifier, oxygen generators, exercise equipment, plus data, voice and television communications with mission control. This enabled permanent habitation of the station.[79][80]

 

The first resident crew, Expedition 1, arrived in November 2000 on Soyuz TM-31. At the end of the first day on the station, astronaut Bill Shepherd requested the use of the radio call sign "Alpha", which he and cosmonaut Krikalev preferred to the more cumbersome "International Space Station".[81] The name "Alpha" had previously been used for the station in the early 1990s,[82] and its use was authorised for the whole of Expedition 1.[83] Shepherd had been advocating the use of a new name to project managers for some time. Referencing a naval tradition in a pre-launch news conference he had said: "For thousands of years, humans have been going to sea in ships. People have designed and built these vessels, launched them with a good feeling that a name will bring good fortune to the crew and success to their voyage."[84] Yuri Semenov, the President of Russian Space Corporation Energia at the time, disapproved of the name "Alpha" as he felt that Mir was the first modular space station, so the names "Beta" or "Mir 2" for the ISS would have been more fitting.[83][85][86]

 

Expedition 1 arrived midway between the flights of STS-92 and STS-97. These two Space Shuttle flights each added segments of the station's Integrated Truss Structure, which provided the station with Ku-band communication for US television, additional attitude support needed for the additional mass of the USOS, and substantial solar arrays supplementing the station's existing 4 solar arrays.[87]

 

Over the next two year, the station continued to expand. A Soyuz-U rocket delivered the Pirs docking compartment. The Space Shuttles Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour delivered the Destiny laboratory and Quest airlock, in addition to the station's main robot arm, the Canadarm2, and several more segments of the Integrated Truss Structure.

 

The expansion schedule was interrupted by the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003 and a resulting hiatus in flights. The Space Shuttle was grounded until 2005 with STS-114 flown by Discovery.[88]

 

Assembly resumed in 2006 with the arrival of STS-115 with Atlantis, which delivered the station's second set of solar arrays. Several more truss segments and a third set of arrays were delivered on STS-116, STS-117, and STS-118. As a result of the major expansion of the station's power-generating capabilities, more pressurised modules could be accommodated, and the Harmony node and Columbus European laboratory were added. These were soon followed by the first two components of Kibō. In March 2009, STS-119 completed the Integrated Truss Structure with the installation of the fourth and final set of solar arrays. The final section of Kibō was delivered in July 2009 on STS-127, followed by the Russian Poisk module. The third node, Tranquility, was delivered in February 2010 during STS-130 by the Space Shuttle Endeavour, alongside the Cupola, followed in May 2010 by the penultimate Russian module, Rassvet. Rassvet was delivered by Space Shuttle Atlantis on STS-132 in exchange for the Russian Proton delivery of the US-funded Zarya module in 1998.[89] The last pressurised module of the USOS, Leonardo, was brought to the station in February 2011 on the final flight of Discovery, STS-133.[90] The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer was delivered by Endeavour on STS-134 the same year.[91]

 

As of June 2011, the station consisted of 15 pressurised modules and the Integrated Truss Structure. Five modules are still to be launched, including the Nauka with the European Robotic Arm, the Prichal module, and two power modules called NEM-1 and NEM-2.[92] As of March 2019, Russia's future primary research module Nauka is set to launch in the summer of 2020, along with the European Robotic Arm which will be able to relocate itself to different parts of the Russian modules of the station.[93]

 

The gross mass of the station changes over time. The total launch mass of the modules on orbit is about 417,289 kg (919,965 lb) (as of 3 September 2011).[94] The mass of experiments, spare parts, personal effects, crew, foodstuff, clothing, propellants, water supplies, gas supplies, docked spacecraft, and other items add to the total mass of the station. Hydrogen gas is constantly vented overboard by the oxygen generators.

 

The ISS is a third generation[95] modular space station.[96] Modular stations can allow modules to be added to or removed from the existing structure, allowing greater flexibility.

 

Below is a diagram of major station components. The blue areas are pressurised sections accessible by the crew without using spacesuits. The station's unpressurised superstructure is indicated in red. Other unpressurised components are yellow. The Unity node joins directly to the Destiny laboratory. For clarity, they are shown apart.

 

Zarya

Zarya as seen by Space Shuttle Endeavour during STS-88

 

Zarya (Russian: Заря́, lit. 'Dawn'), also known as the Functional Cargo Block or FGB (from the Russian: "Функционально-грузовой блок", lit. 'Funktsionalno-gruzovoy blok' or ФГБ), is the first module of the ISS to be launched.[97] The FGB provided electrical power, storage, propulsion, and guidance to the ISS during the initial stage of assembly. With the launch and assembly in orbit of other modules with more specialized functionality, Zarya is now[when?] primarily used for storage, both inside the pressurized section and in the externally mounted fuel tanks. The Zarya is a descendant of the TKS spacecraft designed for the Russian Salyut program. The name Zarya, which means sunrise,[97] was given to the FGB because it signified the dawn of a new era of international cooperation in space. Although it was built by a Russian company, it is owned by the United States.[98]

 

Zarya was built from December 1994 to January 1998 at the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center (KhSC) in Moscow.[97]

 

Zarya was launched on 20 November 1998 on a Russian Proton rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 81 in Kazakhstan to a 400 km (250 mi) high orbit with a designed lifetime of at least 15 years. After Zarya reached orbit, STS-88 launched on 4 December 1998 to attach the Unity module.

Unity

Unity as seen by Space Shuttle Endeavour during STS-88

Main article: Unity (ISS module)

 

The Unity connecting module, also known as Node 1, is the first U.S.-built component of the ISS. It connects the Russian and United States segments of the station, and is where crew eat meals together.

 

The module is cylindrical in shape, with six berthing locations (forward, aft, port, starboard, zenith, and nadir) facilitating connections to other modules. Unity measures 4.57 metres (15.0 ft) in diameter, is 5.47 metres (17.9 ft) long, made of steel, and was built for NASA by Boeing in a manufacturing facility at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Unity is the first of the three connecting modules; the other two are Harmony and Tranquility.

 

Unity was carried into orbit as the primary cargo of the Space Shuttle Endeavour on STS-88, the first Space Shuttle mission dedicated to assembly of the station. On 6 December 1998, the STS-88 crew mated the aft berthing port of Unity with the forward hatch of the already orbiting Zarya module. This was the first connection made between two station modules.

Zvezda

Zvezda as seen by Space Shuttle Endeavour during STS-97

Main article: Zvezda (ISS module)

 

Zvezda (Russian: Звезда́, meaning "star"), Salyut DOS-8, also known as the Zvezda Service Module, is a module of the ISS. It was the third module launched to the station, and provides all of the station's life support systems, some of which are supplemented in the USOS, as well as living quarters for two crew members. It is the structural and functional center of the Russian Orbital Segment, which is the Russian part of the ISS. Crew assemble here to deal with emergencies on the station.[99][100][101]

 

The basic structural frame of Zvezda, known as "DOS-8", was initially built in the mid-1980s to be the core of the Mir-2 space station. This means that Zvezda is similar in layout to the core module (DOS-7) of the Mir space station. It was in fact labeled as Mir-2 for quite some time in the factory. Its design lineage thus extends back to the original Salyut stations. The space frame was completed in February 1985 and major internal equipment was installed by October 1986.

 

The rocket used for launch to the ISS carried advertising; it was emblazoned with the logo of Pizza Hut restaurants,[102][103][104] for which they are reported to have paid more than US$1 million.[105] The money helped support Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and the Russian advertising agencies that orchestrated the event.[106]

 

On 26 July 2000, Zvezda became the third component of the ISS when it docked at the aft port of Zarya. (U.S. Unity module had already been attached to the Zarya.) Later in July, the computers aboard Zarya handed over ISS commanding functions to computers on Zvezda.[107]

Destiny

The Destiny module being installed on the ISS

Main article: Destiny (ISS module)

 

The Destiny module, also known as the U.S. Lab, is the primary operating facility for U.S. research payloads aboard the International Space Station (ISS).[108][109] It was berthed to the Unity module and activated over a period of five days in February, 2001.[110] Destiny is NASA's first permanent operating orbital research station since Skylab was vacated in February 1974.

 

The Boeing Company began construction of the 14.5-tonne (32,000 lb) research laboratory in 1995 at the Michoud Assembly Facility and then the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.[108] Destiny was shipped to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in 1998, and was turned over to NASA for pre-launch preparations in August 2000. It launched on 7 February 2001 aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis on STS-98.[110]

Quest

Quest Joint Airlock Module

Main article: Quest Joint Airlock

 

The Quest Joint Airlock, previously known as the Joint Airlock Module, is the primary airlock for the ISS. Quest was designed to host spacewalks with both Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) spacesuits and Orlan space suits. The airlock was launched on STS-104 on 14 July 2001. Before Quest was attached, Russian spacewalks using Orlan suits could only be done from the Zvezda service module, and American spacewalks using EMUs were only possible when a Space Shuttle was docked. The arrival of Pirs docking compartment on September 16, 2001 provided another airlock from which Orlan spacewalks can be conducted.[citation needed]

Pirs and Poisk

The Pirs module attached to the ISS.

Poisk after arriving at the ISS on 12 November 2009.

Main articles: Pirs (ISS module) and Poisk (ISS module)

 

Pirs (Russian: Пирс, lit. 'pier') and Poisk (Russian: По́иск, lit. 'search') are Russian airlock modules, each having 2 identical hatches. An outward-opening hatch on the Mir space station failed after it swung open too fast after unlatching, because of a small amount of air pressure remaining in the airlock.[111] All EVA hatches on the ISS open inwards and are pressure-sealing. Pirs was used to store, service, and refurbish Russian Orlan suits and provided contingency entry for crew using the slightly bulkier American suits. The outermost docking ports on both airlocks allow docking of Soyuz and Progress spacecraft, and the automatic transfer of propellants to and from storage on the ROS.[112]

 

Pirs was launched on 14 September 2001, as ISS Assembly Mission 4R, on a Russian Soyuz-U rocket, using a modified Progress spacecraft, Progress M-SO1, as an upper stage. Poisk was launched on 10 November 2009[113][114] attached to a modified Progress spacecraft, called Progress M-MIM2, on a Soyuz-U rocket from Launch Pad 1 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Harmony

Harmony shown connected to Columbus, Kibo, and Destiny. PMA-2 faces. The nadir and zenith locations are open.

Main article: Harmony (ISS module)

 

Harmony, also known as Node 2, is the "utility hub" of the ISS. It connects the laboratory modules of the United States, Europe and Japan, as well as providing electrical power and electronic data. Sleeping cabins for four of the six crew are housed here.[115]

 

Harmony was successfully launched into space aboard Space Shuttle flight STS-120 on October 23, 2007.[116][117] After temporarily being attached to the port side of the Unity node,[118][119] it was moved to its permanent location on the forward end of the Destiny laboratory on November 14, 2007.[120] Harmony added 2,666 cubic feet (75.5 m3) to the station's living volume, an increase of almost 20 percent, from 15,000 cu ft (420 m3) to 17,666 cu ft (500.2 m3). Its successful installation meant that from NASA's perspective, the station was "U.S. Core Complete".

Tranquility

Tranquility in 2011

Main article: Tranquility (ISS module)

 

Tranquility, also known as Node 3, is a module of the ISS. It contains environmental control systems, life support systems, a toilet, exercise equipment, and an observation cupola.

 

ESA and the Italian Space Agency had Tranquility built by Thales Alenia Space. A ceremony on November 20, 2009 transferred ownership of the module to NASA.[121] On February 8, 2010, NASA launched the module on the Space Shuttle's STS-130 mission.

Columbus

The Columbus module on the ISS

Main article: Columbus (ISS module)

 

Columbus is a science laboratory that is part of the ISS and is the largest single contribution to the ISS made by the European Space Agency (ESA).

 

Like the Harmony and Tranquility modules, the Columbus laboratory was constructed in Turin, Italy by Thales Alenia Space. The functional equipment and software of the lab was designed by EADS in Bremen, Germany. It was also integrated in Bremen before being flown to the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida in an Airbus Beluga. It was launched aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis on 7 February 2008 on flight STS-122. It is designed for ten years of operation. The module is controlled by the Columbus Control Centre, located at the German Space Operations Centre, part of the German Aerospace Center in Oberpfaffenhofen near Munich, Germany.

 

The European Space Agency has spent €1.4 billion (about US$2 billion) on building Columbus, including the experiments that will fly in it and the ground control infrastructure necessary to operate them.[122]

Kibō

Kibō Exposed Facility on the right

Main article: Kibo (ISS module)

 

The Japanese Experiment Module (JEM), nicknamed Kibo (きぼう Kibō, Hope), is a Japanese science module for the ISS developed by JAXA. It is the largest single ISS module, and is attached to the Harmony module. The first two pieces of the module were launched on Space Shuttle missions STS-123 and STS-124. The third and final components were launched on STS-127.[123]

 

Pressurised Module

 

Experiment Logistics Module

 

Exposed Facility

 

Experiment Logistics Module

 

Remote Manipulator System

 

Cupola

The Cupola's windows with shutters open.

Main article: Cupola (ISS module)

 

The Cupola is an ESA-built observatory module of the ISS. Its name derives from the Italian word cupola, which means "dome". Its seven windows are used to conduct experiments, dockings and observations of Earth. It was launched aboard Space Shuttle mission STS-130 on 8 February 2010 and attached to the Tranquility (Node 3) module. With the Cupola attached, ISS assembly reached 85 percent completion. The Cupola's central window has a diameter of 80 cm (31 in).[124]

Rassvet

Rassvet as seen from the Cupola module during STS-132 with a Progress in the lower right

Main article: Rassvet (ISS module)

 

Rassvet (Russian: Рассве́т; lit. "dawn"), also known as the Mini-Research Module 1 (MRM-1) (Russian: Малый исследовательский модуль, МИМ 1) and formerly known as the Docking Cargo Module (DCM), is a component of the ISS. The module's design is similar to the Mir Docking Module launched on STS-74 in 1995. Rassvet is primarily used for cargo storage and as a docking port for visiting spacecraft. It was flown to the ISS aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis on the STS-132 mission on May 14, 2010,[125] and was connected to the ISS on May 18.[126] The hatch connecting Rassvet with the ISS was first opened on May 20.[127] On 28 June 2010, the Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft performed the first docking with the module.[128]

Leonardo

Leonardo Permanent Multipurpose Module

Main article: Leonardo (ISS module)

 

The Leonardo Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) is a module of the ISS. It was flown into space aboard the Space Shuttle on STS-133 on 24 February 2011 and installed on 1 March. Leonardo is primarily used for storage of spares, supplies and waste on the ISS, which was until then stored in many different places within the space station. The Leonardo PMM was a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) before 2011, but was modified into its current configuration. It was formerly one of three MPLM used for bringing cargo to and from the ISS with the Space Shuttle. The module was named for Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci.

Bigelow Expandable Activity Module

Progression of expansion of BEAM

Main article: Bigelow Expandable Activity Module

 

The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) is an experimental expandable space station module developed by Bigelow Aerospace, under contract to NASA, for testing as a temporary module on the ISS from 2016 to at least 2020. It arrived at the ISS on 10 April 2016,[129] was berthed to the station on 16 April, and was expanded and pressurized on 28 May 2016.

International Docking Adapter

IDA-1 upright

Main article: International Docking Adapter

 

The International Docking Adapter (IDA) is a spacecraft docking system adapter developed to convert APAS-95 to the NASA Docking System (NDS)/International Docking System Standard (IDSS). An IDA is placed on each of the ISS' two open Pressurized Mating Adapters (PMAs), both of which are connected to the Harmony module.

 

IDA-1 was lost during the launch failure of SpaceX CRS-7 on 28 June 2015.[130][131][132]

 

IDA-2 was launched on SpaceX CRS-9 on 18 July 2016.[133] It was attached and connected to PMA-2 during a spacewalk on 19 August 2016.[134] First docking was achieved with the arrival of Crew Dragon Demo-1 on 3 March 2019. [135]

 

IDA-3 was launched on the SpaceX CRS-18 mission in July 2019.[136] IDA-3 is constructed mostly from spare parts to speed construction.[137] It was attached and connected to PMA-3 during a spacewalk on 21 August 2019. [138]

Unpressurised elements

ISS Truss Components breakdown showing Trusses and all ORUs in situ

 

The ISS has a large number of external components that do not require pressurisation. The largest of these is the Integrated Truss Structure (ITS), to which the station's main solar arrays and thermal radiators are mounted.[139] The ITS consists of ten separate segments forming a structure 108.5 m (356 ft) long.[3]

 

The station was intended to have several smaller external components, such as six robotic arms, three External Stowage Platforms (ESPs) and four ExPRESS Logistics Carriers (ELCs).[140][141] While these platforms allow experiments (including MISSE, the STP-H3 and the Robotic Refueling Mission) to be deployed and conducted in the vacuum of space by providing electricity and processing experimental data locally, their primary function is to store spare Orbital Replacement Units (ORUs). ORUs are parts that can be replaced when they fail or pass their design life, including pumps, storage tanks, antennas, and battery units. Such units are replaced either by astronauts during EVA or by robotic arms.[142] Several shuttle missions were dedicated to the delivery of ORUs, including STS-129,[143] STS-133[144] and STS-134.[145] As of January 2011, only one other mode of transportation of ORUs had been utilised – the Japanese cargo vessel HTV-2 – which delivered an FHRC and CTC-2 via its Exposed Pallet (EP).[146][needs update]

Construction of the Integrated Truss Structure over New Zealand.

 

There are also smaller exposure facilities mounted directly to laboratory modules; the Kibō Exposed Facility serves as an external 'porch' for the Kibō complex,[147] and a facility on the European Columbus laboratory provides power and data connections for experiments such as the European Technology Exposure Facility[148][149] and the Atomic Clock Ensemble in Space.[150] A remote sensing instrument, SAGE III-ISS, was delivered to the station in February 2017 aboard CRS-10,[151] and the NICER experiment was delivered aboard CRS-11 in June 2017.[152] The largest scientific payload externally mounted to the ISS is the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS), a particle physics experiment launched on STS-134 in May 2011, and mounted externally on the ITS. The AMS measures cosmic rays to look for evidence of dark matter and antimatter.[153][154]

 

The commercial Bartolomeo External Payload Hosting Platform, manufactured by Airbus, is due to launch in May 2019 aboard a commercial ISS resupply vehicle and be attached to the European Columbus module. It will provide a further 12 external payload slots, supplementing the eight on the ExPRESS Logistics Carriers, ten on Kibō, and four on Columbus. The system is designed to be robotically serviced and will require no astronaut intervention. It is named after Christopher Columbus's younger brother.[155][156][157]

Robotic arms and cargo cranes

Commander Volkov stands on Pirs with his back to the Soyuz whilst operating the manual Strela crane holding photographer Kononenko.

Dextre, like many of the station's experiments and robotic arms, can be operated from Earth and perform tasks while the crew sleeps.

 

The Integrated Truss Structure serves as a base for the station's primary remote manipulator system, called the Mobile Servicing System (MSS), which is composed of three main components. Canadarm2, the largest robotic arm on the ISS, has a mass of 1,800 kilograms (4,000 lb) and is used to dock and manipulate spacecraft and modules on the USOS, hold crew members and equipment in place during EVAs and move Dextre around to perform tasks.[158] Dextre is a 1,560 kg (3,440 lb) robotic manipulator with two arms, a rotating torso and has power tools, lights and video for replacing orbital replacement units (ORUs) and performing other tasks requiring fine control.[159] The Mobile Base System (MBS) is a platform which rides on rails along the length of the station's main truss. It serves as a mobile base for Canadarm2 and Dextre, allowing the robotic arms to reach all parts of the USOS.[160] To gain access to the Russian Segment a grapple fixture was added to Zarya on STS-134, so that Canadarm2 can inchworm itself onto the ROS.[161] Also installed during STS-134 was the 15 m (50 ft) Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS), which had been used to inspect heat shield tiles on Space Shuttle missions and can be used on station to increase the reach of the MSS.[161] Staff on Earth or the station can operate the MSS components via remote control, performing work outside the station without space walks.

 

Japan's Remote Manipulator System, which services the Kibō Exposed Facility,[162] was launched on STS-124 and is attached to the Kibō Pressurised Module.[163] The arm is similar to the Space Shuttle arm as it is permanently attached at one end and has a latching end effector for standard grapple fixtures at the other.

 

The European Robotic Arm, which will service the Russian Orbital Segment, will be launched alongside the Multipurpose Laboratory Module in 2017.[164] The ROS does not require spacecraft or modules to be manipulated, as all spacecraft and modules dock automatically and may be discarded the same way. Crew use the two Strela (Russian: Стрела́; lit. Arrow) cargo cranes during EVAs for moving crew and equipment around the ROS. Each Strela crane has a mass of 45 kg (99 lb).

Planned componments

Nauka

Artist's rendering of the Nauka module docked to Zvezda.

Main article: Nauka (ISS module)

 

Nauka (Russian: Нау́ка; lit. Science), also known as the Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MLM), (Russian: Многофункциональный лабораторный модуль, or МЛМ), is a component of the ISS which has not yet been launched into space. The MLM is funded by the Roscosmos State Corporation. In the original ISS plans, Nauka was to use the location of the Docking and Stowage Module. Later, the DSM was replaced by the Rassvet module and it was moved to Zarya's nadir port. Planners anticipate Nauka will dock at Zvezda's nadir port, replacing Pirs.[165]

 

The launch of Nauka, initially planned for 2007, has been repeatedly delayed for various reasons. As of September 2019, the launch to the ISS is assigned to no earlier than December 2020.[166] After this date, the warranties of some of Nauka's systems will expire.

Prichal

Mockup of the Prichal module at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center

Main article: Prichal (ISS module)

 

Prichal, also known as Uzlovoy Module or UM (Russian: Узловой Модуль "Причал", Nodal Module Berth),[167] is a 4-tonne (8,800 lb)[168] ball-shaped module that will allow docking of two scientific and power modules during the final stage of the station assembly, and provide the Russian segment additional docking ports to receive Soyuz MS and Progress MS spacecraft. UM is due to be launched in 2022.[169] It will be integrated with a special version of the Progress cargo ship and launched by a standard Soyuz rocket, docking to the nadir port of the Nauka module. One port is equipped with an active hybrid docking port, which enables docking with the MLM module. The remaining five ports are passive hybrids, enabling docking of Soyuz and Progress vehicles, as well as heavier modules and future spacecraft with modified docking systems. The node module was intended to serve as the only permanent element of the cancelled OPSEK.[170][171]

Science Power Modules 1 and 2

 

Science Power Module 1 (SPM-1, also known as NEM-1) Science Power Module 2 (SPM-2, also known as NEM-2) are modules planned to arrive at the ISS in 2022.[169][172][173] It is going to dock to the Prichal module, which is planned to be attached to the Nauka module.[173] If Nauka is cancelled, then the Prichal, SPM-1, and SPM-2 would dock at the zenith port of Zvezda. SPM-1 and SPM-2 would also be required components for the OPSEK space station.[174]

Bishop Airlock Module

Main article: Bishop Airlock Module

 

The NanoRacks Bishop Airlock Module is a commercially-funded airlock module intended to be launched to the ISS on SpaceX CRS-21 in August 2020.[175][176] The module is being built by NanoRacks, Thales Alenia Space, and Boeing.[177] It will be used to deploy CubeSats, small satellites, and other external payloads for NASA, CASIS, and other commercial and governmental customers.[178]

Cancelled componments

The cancelled Habitation module under construction at Michoud in 1997

 

Several modules planned for the station were cancelled over the course of the ISS programme. Reasons include budgetary constraints, the modules becoming unnecessary, and station redesigns after the 2003 Columbia disaster. The US Centrifuge Accommodations Module would have hosted science experiments in varying levels of artificial gravity.[179] The US Habitation Module would have served as the station's living quarters. Instead, the sleep stations are now spread throughout the station.[180] The US Interim Control Module and ISS Propulsion Module would have replaced the functions of Zvezda in case of a launch failure.[181] Two Russian Research Modules were planned for scientific research.[182] They would have docked to a Russian Universal Docking Module.[183] The Russian Science Power Platform would have supplied power to the Russian Orbital Segment independent of the ITS solar arrays.

Systems

Life support

Main articles: ISS ECLSS and Chemical oxygen generator

 

The critical systems are the atmosphere control system, the water supply system, the food supply facilities, the sanitation and hygiene equipment, and fire detection and suppression equipment. The Russian Orbital Segment's life support systems are contained in the Zvezda service module. Some of these systems are supplemented by equipment in the USOS. The MLM Nauka laboratory has a complete set of life support systems.

Atmospheric control systems

A flowchart diagram showing the components of the ISS life support system.

The interactions between the components of the ISS Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS)

 

The atmosphere on board the ISS is similar to the Earth's.[184] Normal air pressure on the ISS is 101.3 kPa (14.69 psi);[185] the same as at sea level on Earth. An Earth-like atmosphere offers benefits for crew comfort, and is much safer than a pure oxygen atmosphere, because of the increased risk of a fire such as that responsible for the deaths of the Apollo 1 crew.[186] Earth-like atmospheric conditions have been maintained on all Russian and Soviet spacecraft.[187]

 

The Elektron system aboard Zvezda and a similar system in Destiny generate oxygen aboard the station.[188] The crew has a backup option in the form of bottled oxygen and Solid Fuel Oxygen Generation (SFOG) canisters, a chemical oxygen generator system.[189] Carbon dioxide is removed from the air by the Vozdukh system in Zvezda. Other by-products of human metabolism, such as methane from the intestines and ammonia from sweat, are removed by activated charcoal filters.[189]

 

Part of the ROS atmosphere control system is the oxygen supply. Triple-redundancy is provided by the Elektron unit, solid fuel generators, and stored oxygen. The primary supply of oxygen is the Elektron unit which produces O

2 and H

2 by electrolysis of water and vents H2 overboard. The 1 kW (1.3 hp) system uses approximately one litre of water per crew member per day. This water is either brought from Earth or recycled from other systems. Mir was the first spacecraft to use recycled water for oxygen production. The secondary oxygen supply is provided by burning O

2-producing Vika cartridges (see also ISS ECLSS). Each 'candle' takes 5–20 minutes to decompose at 450–500 °C (842–932 °F), producing 600 litres (130 imp gal; 160 US gal) of O

2. This unit is manually operated.[190]

 

The US Orbital Segment has redundant supplies of oxygen, from a pressurised storage tank on the Quest airlock module delivered in 2001, supplemented ten years later by ESA-built Advanced Closed-Loop System (ACLS) in the Tranquility module (Node 3), which produces O

2 by electrolysis.[191] Hydrogen produced is combined with carbon dioxide from the cabin atmosphere and converted to water and methane.

Power and thermal control

Main articles: Electrical system of the International Space Station and External Active Thermal Control System

Russian solar arrays, backlit by sunset

One of the eight truss mounted pairs of USOS solar arrays

 

Double-sided solar arrays provide electrical power to the ISS. These bifacial cells collect direct sunlight on one side and light reflected off from the Earth on the other, and are more efficient and operate at a lower temperature than single-sided cells commonly used on Earth.[192]

 

The Russian segment of the station, like most spacecraft, uses 28 volt low voltage DC from four rotating solar arrays mounted on Zarya and Zvezda. The USOS uses 130–180 V DC from the USOS PV array, power is stabilised and distributed at 160 V DC and converted to the user-required 124 V DC. The higher distribution voltage allows smaller, lighter conductors, at the expense of crew safety. The two station segments share power with converters.

 

The USOS solar arrays are arranged as four wing pairs, for a total production of 75 to 90 kilowatts.[193] These arrays normally track the sun to maximise power generation. Each array is about 375 m2 (4,036 sq ft) in area and 58 m (190 ft) long. In the complete configuration, the solar arrays track the sun by rotating the alpha gimbal once per orbit; the beta gimbal follows slower changes in the angle of the sun to the orbital plane. The Night Glider mode aligns the solar arrays parallel to the ground at night to reduce the significant aerodynamic drag at the station's relatively low orbital altitude.[194]

 

The station originally used rechargeable nickel–hydrogen batteries (NiH

2) for continuous power during the 35 minutes of every 90-minute orbit that it is eclipsed by the Earth. The batteries are recharged on the day side of the orbit. They had a 6.5-year lifetime (over 37,000 charge/discharge cycles) and were regularly replaced over the anticipated 20-year life of the station.[195] Starting in 2016, the nickel–hydrogen batteries were replaced by lithium-ion batteries, which are expected to last until the end of the ISS program.[196]

 

The station's large solar panels generate a high potential voltage difference between the station and the ionosphere. This could cause arcing through insulating surfaces and sputtering of conductive surfaces as ions are accelerated by the spacecraft plasma sheath. To mitigate this, plasma contactor units (PCU)s create current paths between the station and the ambient plasma field.[197]

ISS External Active Thermal Control System (EATCS) diagram

 

The station's systems and experiments consume a large amount of electrical power, almost all of which is converted to heat. To keep the internal temperature within workable limits, a passive thermal control system (PTCS) is made of external surface materials, insulation such as MLI, and heat pipes. If the PTCS cannot keep up with the heat load, an External Active Thermal Control System (EATCS) maintains the temperature. The EATCS consists of an internal, non-toxic, water coolant loop used to cool and dehumidify the atmosphere, which transfers collected heat into an external liquid ammonia loop. From the heat exchangers, ammonia is pumped into external radiators that emit heat as infrared radiation, then back to the station.[198] The EATCS provides cooling for all the US pressurised modules, including Kibō and Columbus, as well as the main power distribution electronics of the S0, S1 and P1 trusses. It can reject up to 70 kW. This is much more than the 14 kW of the Early External Active Thermal Control System (EEATCS) via the Early Ammonia Servicer (EAS), which was launched on STS-105 and installed onto the P6 Truss.[199]

Communications and computers

Main articles: Tracking and Data Relay Satellite and Luch (satellite)

See also: ThinkPad § Use in space

Diagram showing communications links between the ISS and other elements.

The communications systems used by the ISS

* Luch satellite and the Space Shuttle are not currently[when?] in use

 

Radio communications provide telemetry and scientific data links between the station and Mission Control Centres. Radio links are also used during rendezvous and docking procedures and for audio and video communication between crew members, flight controllers and family members. As a result, the ISS is equipped with internal and external communication systems used for different purposes.[200]

 

The Russian Orbital Segment communicates directly with the ground via the Lira antenna mounted to Zvezda.[6][201] The Lira antenna also has the capability to use the Luch data relay satellite system.[6] This system fell into disrepair during the 1990s, and so was not used during the early years of the ISS,[6][202][203] although two new Luch satellites—Luch-5A and Luch-5B—were launched in 2011 and 2012 respectively to restore the operational capability of the system.[204] Another Russian communications system is the Voskhod-M, which enables internal telephone communications between Zvezda, Zarya, Pirs, Poisk, and the USOS and provides a VHF radio link to ground control centres via antennas on Zvezda's exterior.[205]

 

The US Orbital Segment (USOS) makes use of two separate radio links mounted in the Z1 truss structure: the S band (audio) and Ku band (audio, video and data) systems. These transmissions are routed via the United States Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) in geostationary orbit, allowing for almost continuous real-time communications with NASA's Mission Control Center (MCC-H) in Houston.[22][6][200] Data channels for the Canadarm2, European Columbus laboratory and Japanese Kibō modules were originally also routed via the S band and Ku band systems, with the European Data Relay System and a similar Japanese system intended to eventually complement the TDRSS in this role.[22][206] Communications between modules are carried on an internal wireless network.[207]

An array of laptops in the US lab

Laptop computers surround the Canadarm2 console

 

UHF radio is used by astronauts and cosmonauts conducting EVAs and other spacecraft that dock to or undock from the station.[6] Automated spacecraft are fitted with their own communications equipment; the ATV uses a laser attached to the spacecraft and the Proximity Communications Equipment attached to Zvezda to accurately dock with the station.[208][209]

 

The ISS is equipped with about 100 IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad and HP ZBook 15 laptop computers. The laptops have run Windows 95, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 10 and Linux operating systems.[210] Each computer is a commercial off-the-shelf purchase which is then modified for safety and operation including updates to connectors, cooling and power to accommodate the station's 28V DC power system and weightless environment. Heat generated by the laptops does not rise but stagnates around the laptop, so additional forced ventilation is required. Laptops aboard the ISS are connected to the station's wireless LAN via Wi-Fi, which connects to the ground via Ku band. This provides speeds of 10 Mbit/s download and 3 Mbit/s upload from the station, comparable to home DSL connection speeds.[211][212] Laptop hard drives occasionally fail and must be replaced.[213] Other computer hardware failures include instances in 2001, 2007 and 2017; some of these failures have required EVAs to replace computer modules in externally mounted devices.[214][215][216][217]

 

The operating system used for key station functions is the Debian Linux distribution.[218] The migration from Microsoft Windows was made in May 2013 for reasons of reliability, stability and flexibility.[219]

 

In 2017, an SG100 Cloud Computer was launched to the ISS as part of OA-7 mission.[220] It was manufactured by NCSIST and designed in collaboration with Academia Sinica, and National Central University under contract for NASA.[221]

Operations

Expeditions and private flights

 

See also the list of International Space Station expeditions (professional crew), space tourism (private travellers), and the list of human spaceflights to the ISS (both).

 

Zarya and Unity were entered for the first time on 10 December 1998.

Soyuz TM-31 being prepared to bring the first resident crew to the station in October 2000

ISS was slowly assembled over a decade of spaceflights and crews

 

Each permanent crew is given an expedition number. Expeditions run up to six months, from launch until undocking, an 'increment' covers the same time period, but includes cargo ships and all activities. Expeditions 1 to 6 consisted of 3 person crews, Expeditions 7 to 12 were reduced to the safe minimum of two following the destruction of the NASA Shuttle Columbia. From Expedition 13 the crew gradually increased to 6 around 2010.[222][223] With the arrival of the US Commercial Crew vehicles in the late 2010s, expedition size may be increased to seven crew members, the number ISS is designed for.[224][225]

 

Gennady Padalka, member of Expeditions 9, 19/20, 31/32, and 43/44, and Commander of Expedition 11, has spent more time in space than anyone else, a total of 878 days, 11 hours, and 29 minutes.[226] Peggy Whitson has spent the most time in space of any American, totalling 665 days, 22 hours, and 22 minutes during her time on Expeditions 5, 16, and 50/51/52.[227]

 

Travellers who pay for their own passage into space are termed spaceflight participants by Roscosmos and NASA, and are sometimes referred to as space tourists, a term they generally dislike.[note 1] All seven were transported to the ISS on Russian Soyuz spacecraft. When professional crews change over in numbers not divisible by the three seats in a Soyuz, and a short-stay crewmember is not sent, the spare seat is sold by MirCorp through Space Adventures. When the space shuttle retired in 2011, and the station's crew size was reduced to 6, space tourism was halted, as the partners relied on Russian transport seats for access to the station. Soyuz flight schedules increase after 2013, allowing 5 Soyuz flights (15 seats) with only two expeditions (12 seats) required.[233] The remaining seats are sold for around US$40 million to members of the public who can pass a medical exam. ESA and NASA criticised private spaceflight at the beginning of the ISS, and NASA initially resisted training Dennis Tito, the first person to pay for his own passage to the ISS.[note 2]

 

Anousheh Ansari became the first Iranian in space and the first self-funded woman to fly to the station. Officials reported that her education and experience make her much more than a tourist, and her performance in training had been "excellent."[234] Ansari herself dismisses the idea that she is a tourist. She did Russian and European studies involving medicine and microbiology during her 10-day stay. The documentary Space Tourists follows her journey to the station, where she fulfilled "an age-old dream of man: to leave our planet as a "normal person" and travel into outer space."[235]

 

In 2008, spaceflight participant Richard Garriott placed a geocache aboard the ISS during his flight.[236] This is currently the only non-terrestrial geocache in existence.[237] At the same time, the Immortality Drive, an electronic record of eight digitised human DNA sequences, was placed aboard the ISS.[238]

Orbit

Graph showing the changing altitude of the ISS from November 1998 until November 2018

Animation of ISS orbit from 14 September 2018 to 14 November 2018. Earth is not shown.

 

The ISS is maintained in a nearly circular orbit with a minimum mean altitude of 330 km (205 mi) and a maximum of 410 km (255 mi), in the centre of the thermosphere, at an inclination of 51.6 degrees to Earth's equator. This orbit was selected because it is the lowest inclination that can be directly reached by Russian Soyuz and Progress spacecraft launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome at 46° N latitude without overflying China or dropping spent rocket stages in inhabited areas.[239][240] It travels at an average speed of 27,724 kilometres per hour (17,227 mph), and completes 15.54 orbits per day (93 minutes per orbit).[2][14] The station's altitude was allowed to fall around the time of each NASA shuttle flight to permit heavier loads to be transferred to the station. After the retirement of the shuttle, the nominal orbit of the space station was raised in altitude.[241][242] Other, more frequent supply ships do not require this adjustment as they are substantially higher performance vehicles.[28][243]

 

Orbital boosting can be performed by the station's two main engines on the Zvezda service module, or Russian or European spacecraft docked to Zvezda's aft port. The ATV is constructed with the possibility of adding a second docking port to its aft end, allowing other craft to dock and boost the station. It takes approximately two orbits (three hours) for the boost to a higher altitude to be completed.[243] Maintaining ISS altitude uses about 7.5 tonnes of chemical fuel per annum[244] at an annual cost of about $210 million.[245]

Orbits of the ISS, shown in April 2013

 

The Russian Orbital Segment contains the Data Management System, which handles Guidance, Navigation and Control (ROS GNC) for the entire station.[246] Initially, Zarya, the first module of the station, controlled the station until a short time after the Russian service module Zvezda docked and was transferred control. Zvezda contains the ESA built DMS-R Data Management System.[247] Using two fault-tolerant computers (FTC), Zvezda computes the station's position and orbital trajectory using redundant Earth horizon sensors, Solar

Janet Jackson has officially confirmed her pregnancy.

Posing for a stunning new photoshoot for People magazine, the 50-year-old singer cradles her bump, saying: ‘We thank God for our blessing.’

The 50-year-old singer announced six months ago she was postponing her tour to ‘have...

 

slanderin.info/pregnant-janet-jackson-confirms-expecting-...

An somewhat expected response....

 

The early-1980’s were troubled times for Leyland Bus. Despite all the industrial strife it seemed was rampant at British Leyland (BL) in the 1970s, the commercial vehicle side was less badly affected as the private car side. However a series of decisions, some external, led to falling sales at the start of the 80s - First was the decision by the Government to phase out a grant whereby the price of a new bus was subsidised by initially 25% then later increased to 50%. It was done with the laudable aim to encourage operators to modernise their fleets and get rid of buses which weren’t suitable for one-person operation. However, the decision to phase the grant out did have a downside. The grant led to operators gorging themselves on new buses and old ones were replaced before strictly necessary. This, together with impending deregulation very much put the brakes on purchases.

 

Whilst Leyland had a monopoly for much of the 1970s, the decision to phase out Leyland’s three double deck models - The Daimler (later Leyland) Fleetline, Leyland Atlantean and Bristol VRT - had encouraged other companies to compete, sensing a weakened company. It’s false start with the Leyland Titan and then bringing the Olympian late to the party didn’t help.

 

However Leyland then changed tack. Realising it couldn’t compete with larger companies such as Volvo, it decided to compete with former established allies. So it undercut Alexanders, where it had sold in complete harmony with Atlanteans, to sell Lothian Leyland Olympians with ECW bodies. This was Leyland promoting the benefits of one-stop shopping and Lothian was by no means the only company it targeted. Leyland figured if it built the bus and body it got more money. At the same time, it should be noted that ECW was a beneficiary of this and retained Lothian’s business until the sad demise of the company itself. One of the buses built by ECW was 777 (C777SFS) which has been preserved by the company in ‘as withdrawn’ condition. Note the day ticket price.

 

However the decision to compete with Alexanders was another own goal by Leyland Bus. It brought a withering response by Alexanders, well established in the Leyland stronghold of Singapore. Alexanders introduced Mercedes-Benz to that market, selling several hundred Mercedes-Benz buses, all bodied by Alexanders. Leyland lost far more than what it gained....You reap what you sow....

Description: War damage photographs. "Nuneaton goods view showing damaged permanent way and wagon stock."

 

Date: 25th June 1942

 

Our Catalogue Reference: RAIL 421/74 (f.561)

 

This image is from the collections of The National Archives. Feel free to share it within the spirit of the Commons.

 

For high quality reproductions of any item from our collection please contact our image library.

It's dinner time at the Somersleys' home.

Jania eats her nuggets and drinks some milk while singing ABCs.

As I began to scroll down Instagram while attempting to eat, but I start to get nauseous and very bad headache has came on... Thinks to self "hmm it's kind of weird for the past couple of days around the same time I get like this..." Exits out of Instagram and clicks the calendar app and looks at the date. Gasps "I'm Late, c'mon Jania look like we have to make a store run."

Later... (in the bathroom) yells out "Jania sit on mommy's bed and play with your toys until I come out." Pulls out pregnancy test out of the box and reads the instructions, breathes "Here goes nothing" Waits 5 mins... Glances at the test "positive" 😳 grabs another test and repeats the process "positive" blinks "Okay one more time" "positive" whispers to self "I'm preg... I'm pregnant..." sheds a few tears "It's been a rough year and now I am blessed to bring another life onto the grid."

Jania runs into the bathroom with a sign that says 'Mommy is Pregnant' "How did you get that?" "Yaya gibes me its mommy" says Jania "Oh really? Well since yall just knew that I was pregnant let's take a picture."

Jania: Cheese!

To Be Continued.....

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