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The International Space Station (ISS) is a habitable artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. It follows the Salyut, Almaz, Skylab and Mir as the ninth space station to be inhabited. The station is operated by Expedition crews, and has been continuously occupied for 23 years and 208 days having exceeded the previous record of almost 10 years (or 3,644 days) held by Mir, in 2010. The ISS serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory in which crew members conduct experiments in biology, human biology, physics, astronomy, meteorology and other fields.[7][8][9] The station is suited for the testing of spacecraft systems and equipment required for missions to the Moon and Mars.[10] The ISS is a modular structure whose first component was launched in 1998. It has since grown to become the largest and most expensive space station ever built.[11] Other modular space station projects include MIR, OPSEK and Tiangong 3.
Station statistics | |
---|---|
Call sign | Alpha |
Crew | Fully crewed 6 Currently onboard 6 (Expedition 30) |
Launch | 1998–2012 |
Launch pad | Baikonur LC-81/23, LC-1/5 KSC LC-39, |
Mass | approximately 450,000 kg (990,000 lb) |
Length | 51 m (167.3 ft) from PMA-2 to Zvezda |
Width | 109 m (357.5 ft) along truss, arrays extended |
Height | c. 20 m (c. 66 ft) nadir–zenith, arrays forward–aft (27 November 2009) |
Pressurised volume | 837 m3 (29,600 cu ft) (21 March 2011) |
Atmospheric pressure | 101.3 kPa (29.91 inHg, 1 atm) |
Periapsis altitude | 376 km (234 mi) AMSL 1 October 2011) |
Apoapsis altitude | 398 km (247 mi) AMSL 1 October 2011) |
Orbital inclination | 51.6 degrees |
Orbital speed | 7,706.6 m/s (27,743.8 km/h, 17,239.2 mph) |
Orbital period | 91 minutes |
Days in orbit | 9321 (28 May) |
Days occupied | 8608 (28 May) |
No. of orbits | 146308 (28 May) |
Orbital decay | 2 km/month |
Statistics as of 9 March 2011 (unless noted otherwise) References:[1][2][3][4][5][6] | |
Configuration | |
The International Space Station combines three space station projects with the Japanese Kibō module and Canadian robotics.[12] Budget constraints led to the merger of the Soviet/Russian Mir-2, the American Freedom, and the European Columbus, into a single multi-national programme. The ISS programme is a joint project between five participating space agencies, the American NASA, the Russian RKA, the Japanese JAXA, the European ESA, and the Canadian CSA.[13][14] The ISS consists of pressurised modules, external trusses, solar arrays and other elements. ISS components have been launched by American Space Shuttles as well as Russian Proton and Soyuz rockets.[12]
The ownership and use of the space station is established by intergovernmental treaties and agreements.[15] The station is divided into two sections, the Russian orbital segment (ROS) and the United States orbital segment (USOS), which is shared by many nations. The station is serviced by Soyuz spacecraft, Progress spacecraft, the Automated Transfer Vehicle and the H-II Transfer Vehicle,[14] and has been visited by astronauts and cosmonauts from 15 different nations.[16] The ISS is maintained at an orbital altitude of between 330 km (205 mi) and 410 km (255 mi). It completes 15.7 orbits per day.[17] Like many artificial satellites, the station can be seen from Earth with the naked eye.[18][19] The ISS is expected to remain in operation until at least 2020, and potentially to 2028.[20][21] Some elements of the ISS are expected to be separated to form the planned Russian OPSEK facility before the remainder is deorbited.[22]