One of the longest-lasting designs was called the “Double-Keel”. Very similar to the eventual truss configuration, a vertical section was added which was to house electronics and the satellite servicing bay. At this point, Solar Dynamics Generators were still in the running for a power source. Difficult to see, but the Japanese and European modules had been added by this point.
This design had considerable staying power, remaining part of plans until the early 90s. One criticism from Astronauts was that the location of the crew modules in relation to the trusses would mean that every view had some sort of huge truss in it making observation difficult. Another was the extreme amount of maintenance the design would create.
Part of the design was that the immense structural truss would be able to support large construction options, but thats another post…
The dual-keel would also allow the station to be naturally stable with minimum energy needed for attitude control due to the second keel remaining stable due to the gravity gradient along the structure.
Its worth noting that, during this stage of station design, the trusses would need to be assembled by hand, by astronauts on EVA. This resulted in more large open trusses in the design than would later feature.
i want to leave
