» International Space Station (ISS)

International Space Station in Earth orbit

The International Space Station is a crewed orbital station used as a multi-purpose space research complex. The ISS is a joint international project involving the USA, ESA (European Space Agency), Japan, Canada, and other international partners.

Construction of the station began in 1998 with the launch of the first module. Since then, the station has been constantly expanded and modernized to serve as humanity's outpost in space.

~420 km
Orbit Altitude
27,700 km/h
Speed
~420 tons
Station Mass
6-7 ppl
Crew Size

Every day, the station completes about 16 orbits around our planet. For the crew, this means they observe 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets each day. The main goal of the ISS is to conduct scientific research in microgravity conditions that cannot be replicated on Earth.