The International Space Station (ISS) dwarfs any epic movie shot or terrestrial construction project. About 100,000 contractors and space agency personnel in 16 countries are working on the orbital outpost that will eventually span more than 350 feet (106 meters).

"One of the reasons thats glossed over is that we need this sort of adventure to keep us thriving and growing," said Susan Freeman, a flight operations manager at Boeing in Houston. "Humanity needs to go out and do these kinds of things it inspires us."

Freeman, who also worked on the Shuttle-Mir program in the 1990s, has wanted to work in the space program since she was a child.

Johnson Space Centers (JSC) Kwatsi Alibaruho said hes developed a form of diplomacy when working with the stations international partners to integrate the various ideas and modules that will make up the station.

"Integration work requires a level of cooperation or technical diplomacy that we can all benefit from," he said. "I find it encouraging were working so hard on a civilian technical project with countries with whom we had nuclear weapons trained in my lifetime."

Alibaruho coordinates life-support systems aboard the station and trains other flight controllers for those tasks. He said the numerous tasks are a welcome challenge.

"I love the diversity of operations and tasks," he said. "I get to a bit of everything -- design, analysis, project management, international communication. I also work with our Russian partners. Theres no one thing Ive got to do all the time."

He switched from a career in computer programming to the space program when the bug bit while in college. Unlike a lot of others at JSC, he has no aspirations to join the astronaut corps hes found his place in the Mission Control Center.

"Its the closest you can get to being in space without being there," Alibaruho said. "Given the choice, Id rather be a flight controller than an astronaut. "Theres a sense of empowerment and responsibility working with colleagues and other flight directors to make the mission happen."

Ted Kenny, a 10-year veteran of space station development, will be monitoring the docking of the Z-1 truss on the station in October and the TV and movie image of the flight controller isnt entirely accurate.

"It looks like guys hunched over consoles and looking at data with a book and a checklist and dealing with an occasional crisis," he said. "Actually things are changing day to day and you learn from flight experience. There are usually 10 to 15 things you didnt expect on each mission and then you do some real problem solving."

If the mission goes well, it looks easy, Kenny said. But there is a lot of constant behind-the-scenes activity.

"The biggest thing Ive learned is that when the mission goes nominally, hundreds of people were working three shifts per day to make that happen," Kenny said.

Before any shuttle mission lifts off to work on the station, at least two years have gone into planning the mission. People like John McCullough get an early start even before a crew has been assigned or all the mission goals have been outlined.

Hes currently working on Discoverys flight, dubbed 3A, to the ISS in October to deliver the Z-1 truss and a mating adapter.

As station construction began in 1998, Charlene Curtis and others were given the task of developing the hardware and software for the ISS control room not too far from the Apollo-era flight control room and the current shuttle control room.

The 17 consoles in the control room monitor everything from life support and power systems to the stations attitude. The center also links with Moscow Mission Control, along with other control centers around the world.

"I get a lot of calls when something doesnt work," she said. "This is a challenge and exciting since the station isnt an established vehicle like the shuttle."

Curtis sits at the consoles during tests, but hands them off to controllers for simulations and during missions. That doesnt bother her though.

"I think the best part of this job is being a part of history and making a difference," she said. "And its great to be around history thats been made."

Computer imagery and virtual reality also play a major hand in construction of the ISS. Dave Homan and his crew of five in JSCs Virtual Reality Laboratory give spacewalkers a feel for what theyre going to experience in orbit.

"If youre expecting the holodeck on the Starship Enterprise, youll be sorely disappointed," Homan jokes. "Weve taken the VR technology as it exists and have tried to come up with an application based on what were interested in, which is training."

Inside the lab, astronauts wear special goggles and sensor-equipped gloves to simulate what theyll experience in space. The lab also houses a shuttle robot-arm simulator and a mass-handling device using electrical motors to simulate a large object that can be moved by astronauts.

Homan said the VR training doesnt replace aids like the pool at the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, rather, it supplements them.

"You cant put the 350-foot (107-meter) truss in the pool because it wont fit," he said. "But a crewman can come over here and see what it would look like without seeing the bubbles, divers and the edge of the pool."

He smiles when asked if he gets ribbed for playing video games all day.

"This is something interesting, and not a lot of people are doing it," he said. "But one of the best parts is working with the crew members."