 Observatory, school, laboratory, home. This is Space Station Freedom, where international teams of astronauts will live and work permanently in space. Eight crew members can live comfortably aboard Freedom. The astronauts' private borders are equipped with computers, ECRs, and telecommunications tools. Each astronaut lives on Freedom for three to six months at a time. The habitation module has backroom and shower facilities, health maintenance center, and fully equipped yachts with all the conveniences of all. Except here, there is no gravity. Scientists in the U.S. Laboratory Module can perform experiments not possible on Earth. The microgravity of space allows astronauts to grow perfect crystals and produce chemicals with an unprecedented level of purity. They experiment with robotics, electronics, ceramics, plants, and human cells. Research aimed at advanced technology for new product. An important mission aboard Freedom is Earth observation. To horizon is our atmosphere. It seems so fragile, yet it shields all living things. From Freedom's orbit, 250 miles above the Earth, our home planet is perceived as a delicate living organism that needs to be protected through international cooperation. Freedom's external payloads are attached to a trust structure 500 feet long. Instruments are trained on the sky as well as Earth. Information gathered enhances research in astronomy, oceanography, geology, and meteorology, changing the way we understand our world and our solar system. The space shuttle is a welcome sign aboard Freedom. It bends the personnel and the equipment that keep the station running. The space station itself begins in the cargo bay of the shuttle. 28 missions carry pressure on its models in the United States, and our international partners, Canada, Europe, and Japan. The shuttle brings trust structures, solar arrays, and experiments all to be assembled in space. In the late 1990s, when the station is operational, a new era begins. Now that we can live and work in space, it's easy to imagine life on the moon, or maybe even Mars. Freedom, bringing space exploration to the 21st century and beyond.