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Official Station ISS patch

Space stations·NASA / ESA / JAXA / Roscosmos / CSA

Station ISS

ActiveLaunched in 1998·LEO — 408 km

The largest object ever assembled in space. A permanent orbital laboratory for 25 years.

Main objectives

Maintain a crewed orbital laboratory for microgravity research.
Test technologies and protocols for deep-space exploration.
Sustain international cooperation and commercial crewed flights.

Did you know?

It orbits Earth 16 times a day at 28,000 km/h. The crew witnesses 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets every 24 hours.

Timeline

Nov 20, 1998

Zarya launch

First module (Russia).

Nov 02, 2000

First permanent crew

Expedition 1.

May 29, 2011

Assembly complete

Specifications

Mass420 t

Length109 m

Crew capacity7

Orbital velocity28,000 km/h

Mission milestones

[03]

Milestone
Crew Dragon capsule swap
Crew-10 / Crew-9 rotation: maintaining continuous human presence aboard.
Mar 14, 2025 ↗
Milestone
Starliner returns uncrewed
Boeing CST-100 Starliner begins a safe return; the crew remains aboard the ISS via Crew Dragon.
Sep 07, 2024 ↗
Milestone
First crewed Crew Dragon mission
SpaceX Demo-2 brings 2 astronauts to the ISS: the dawn of the commercial crewed era.
May 30, 2020

Explore further

Target hubEarth & orbit Spacecraft type hubSpace stations Agency hubNASA Agency hubESA

Official sources