It is the largest structure that man has managed to put into space so far; it is, in essence, a research laboratory orbiting the Earth above our heads: it is the so called “International Space Station” (ISS), a multinational construction project involving several countries. In fact, this project includes financial contributions from 15 nations and 5 space agencies, namely: the European Space Agency (ESA), the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Russia’s ROSCOSMOS, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency and the Canadian Space Agency (of which the first three are the main partners). On the ISS, astronauts carry out numerous experiments every day of their stay on the Station and whose purpose is not only to better prepare future space explorations but also to improve the nowadays quality of our life on Earth.

On 20 November 1998, the first segment or module of the ISS, called Zarya (“Sunrise”), was launched. Only a couple of weeks later, the second module (called “Unity”), also known as “Node-1”, was launched, representing the first ISS component built entirely by the Americans. The Unity module was taken into orbit with the first space mission of Space Shuttle Endeavour STS-88 (a mission dedicated to the start of assembly of the International Space Station). Finally, after a high degree of precision work, on 6 December of the same year, the STS-88 crew succeeded in coupling the aft docking door of Unity with the front docking door of the Zarya module.

The International Space Station maintains an orbit with an average altitude of 250 miles (about 400 kilometres), an orbit that it maintains steadily through reboost manoeuvres using the engine of the Zvezda ("Star") service module; however the orbit can still be maintained using the engines of the host spacecraft. The Zvezda, which not only provides accommodation for the astronauts, is also equipped with life support systems as well as altitude and orbit control systems; the module also provides addittional docking areas, very useful for shuttles.

The ISS is composed by 16 pressurized modules: four Russian modules (Zvezda, Rassvet, Poisk and Pirs), one European module (Columbus), nine US modules (Zarya, BEAM, Harmony, Leonardo, Tranquility, Cupola, Unity, Quest and Destiny) and two Japanese modules (the JEM-ELM-PS and JEM-PM).

The International Space Station (ISS) travels in orbit around Earth at a speed of roughly 28.000 Km/h (17.150 miles per hour), this means that the ISS orbits Earth once every 92 minutes and it circles the globe 16 times per day.

The International Space Station is visible from Earth, it is the second brightest object in the night sky after the Moon. The ISS crosses the sky like a star and it could easily be mistaken for an airplane. You can see the ISS when it flies over your region.

Generally the International Space Station (ISS) is home to an international crew of six and no less than three astronauts at all times. When the space shuttle was still in use, it was possible to allocate more astronauts but only for a couple of days till the shuttle was docked to the station. According to NASA’s report in July 2020, a total of 242 people from 19 different countries have managed to travel to the ISS.

On average, astronaut missions usually last 6 months. In any case, the duration of their missions can vary significantly, depending on the type of activities and experiments that must be carried out on board the ISS. Consider that in 2016 the Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko (of Roscosmos station) and the American astronaut Scott Kelly (of NASA), spent 12 uninterrupted months with the specific purpose of understanding what effects the absence of gravity by prolonged periods can have on the human body.

The International Space Station is an international project and the participants are Europe with the European Space Agency (ESA), the United States with National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Russia with Roscosmos - RKA (Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities) and Japan with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

The ISS has been inhabited without any interruption since the arrival of Expedition 1 in 2000. (Quiz release date: 2021)

The Italian Samantha Cristoforetti who was the first Italian woman in space will be the first woman astronaut to assume command of the International Space Station (ISS), during its mission scheduled for 2022, according to the European Space Agency (ESA) in a statement.

The modules that make up the International Space Station were originally designed to stay in space for 15 years, thus designed to function and remain in orbit until 2015. However, the term has been extended until 2024 and some aerospace experts have feared the hypothesis of a duration up to 2030 depending, obviously, on the type of maintenance performed and carried out. In fact, in 2018, the former Associate Administrator for “Human Exploration and Operations of NASA”, Mr. Bill Gerstenmaier declared, in front of a subcommittee of the US Senate for Tesearch and Space Exploration: “We possess a good operational life at least until 2028, and perhaps even a little beyond. We just need to keep monitorized the Station and keep it running correctly. What we do not want is to spend more time on maintenance than on research. If this happens, the usefulness of the Station itself will start to decrease”.