By: Heather N. Gibson

The world's ambitious project to put a station in space began November 20,1998. Zarya, the first critical piece of the station, was carried into space on top of a Russian booster rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazkhstan.

Zarya will provide propulsion, power, and communications during the early stages of the project. The station will be made up of more than 100 elements coming from 16 different countries. The second element will be delivered on Dec. 3.

The Space Shuttle Endeavor will be carrying NASA's first piece, Unity. Unity is the connecting module. if all goes well it will take 45 flights to assemble the station. Each step in the project becoming more and more complex.

We must keep in mind the problems that will arise in such an ambitious project. Some of them out of our control because of the joint effort in putting this station together. However, with the conclusion of this endeavor space will perhaps no longer be the finale frontier, but just the next frontier.