International Space Station (thing)

NASA's propaganda in favour of the ISS:

Leadership

Space Station is one of the most exciting and challenging international programs leading the world into a new millennium and providing inspiration for future generations.

• US-led, single largest international aerospace project ever undertaken by humankind.
• Assembly involves complex on-orbit operations and unprecedented hardware/software integration.
• Fosters peaceful relations among the 16 participating countries by building trust and sharing mutual goals for the benefit of all peoples.
• An international human experiment - an exciting "city in space" - a place where we will learn to live and work "off planet" alongside our international partners.

Research

Space Station will be a unique world-class laboratory providing an international platform for advances in science and technology.

• Provides the only laboratory minimizing the effects of gravity where long-term scientific research can be carried out.
• Research will help fight diseases such as influenza, diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis, and AIDS.
• Low-gravity environment unmasks fundamental processes that will lead to new manufacturing processes and products to benefit life on Earth.
• Provides a unique space platform to better observe and understand our Earth’s environment and the universe in which we live.

Business

Space Station will enable the creation of new commercial enterprises that can use the environment, technologies, and research applications of space to build profit-based private business.

• Creates unique opportunity for the private sector to conduct research on tomorrow's products today.
• Allows for international cooperation while also promoting technological leadership and international economic competitiveness.
• Provides an engineering testbed for commercial and exploration systems and technologies.
• Opens new frontiers for business development and entrepreneurial spirit.
• Provides needed, quality jobs around the globe and creates a wide range of science and technology career opportunities for today's youth, preparing them for a knowledge-based economy.

Education

Space Station serves as a virtual classroom in space to the benefit of educators and students alike.

• Inspires in a new generation a sense of wonder and inquisitiveness about the world and the universe in which they live.
• Supports educators in stimulating students in the study of science, mathematics, technology, engineering, and geography.
• Students and educators will not only benefit from the knowledge gained by researchers aboard the International Space Station, but will be able to actively participate in that research.

Exploration

Space Station is the gateway to human space exploration and meets the deep-seated need of people throughout history to explore the unknown, to understand their world and the universe, and to apply that experience for the benefit of all here on Earth.

• Provides the foundation for the future exploration and development of space.
• Allows the study of long-term effects of weightlessness on the human body and testing of new technologies for application to future human space exploration.
• A testbed to understand and adjust our home methods before sending humans to Mars and beyond.
• Allows critical technology research in fluids, combustion, life support systems, and the radiation environment, which is needed for future human space exploration away from Earth.

Copyright/reference info:

Most of this information came from the NASA website, however their policy statement at http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/policies.html indicates that it may be freely used for non-profit purposes as long as their Copyright is acknowledged. So don't sue me!