INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION IN SKY PLUS

Stretching out to the sides of the space station are the solar arrays.

Modules called 'nodes' connect parts of the station to each other. They also provided living areas for crew members. The first Russian modules included basic systems needed for the space station to function. In addition to the laboratories where astronauts conduct science research, the space station has many other parts. Pictured here are members of the 17th crew to live aboard the space station. It includes laboratory modules from the United States, Russia, Japan and Europe. Measured from the edges of its solar arrays, the station covers the area of a football field including the end zones. On Earth, the space station would weigh almost a million pounds.

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION IN SKY PLUS

It is able to support a crew of six people, plus visitors. The space station has the volume of a five-bedroom house or two Boeing 747 jetliners. NASA and its partners from around the world completed construction of the space station in 2011. People have lived on the space station ever since. More pieces were added over the next two years before the station was ready for people to live there. Microgravity: the condition of being weightless, or of the near absence of gravity Truss: a beam that serves as the space station's backbone to which some parts are connectedĪirlock: an airtight room with two entrances that allows an astronaut to go on a spacewalk without letting the air out of the spacecraft Module: a self-contained unit of a spacecraft The crew attached the Unity node to Zarya. About two weeks later, the space shuttle Endeavour met Zarya in orbit. A Russian rocket launched the Russian Zarya (zar EE uh) control module. The first piece of the International Space Station was launched in November 1998. These lessons will make it possible to send humans farther into space than ever before. NASA is using the space station to learn more about living and working in space. This means it orbits Earth every 90 minutes. It orbits Earth at an average altitude of 220 miles. The space station is made of parts that were assembled in space by astronauts. Several nations worked together to build and use the space station. The space station is also a unique science laboratory. It serves as a home where crews of astronauts and cosmonauts live. The International Space Station is a large spacecraft in orbit around Earth. The space station is one of the brightest objects in the sky.

International space station in sky