Space Station Freedom
Before the ISS, the U.S. considered a smaller international space station to be built in partnership with Japan, Canada, and nine European nations. First announced in President Ronald Reagan’s 1984 State of the Union, Space Station Freedom was meant to be an answer to the Soviet Mir space station.
Budget problems caused continuous delays for Freedom. The project was redesigned seven times between 1984 and 1993, each time shrinking in size and stature. In this last year, with Congress threatening to cancel the expensive project, President Bill Clinton announced that the Russian space agency would be brought in on the mission, creating the International Space Station.
This design, from 1993, fancifully sandwiches Freedom between the Earth, moon and Mars, suggesting the station as a stepping-stone between our planet and worlds beyond.
