International Space Station
Building and Operating a Permanent Laboratory in Orbit
The International Space Station is both a spacecraft and a decades-long international mission program: assembled piece by piece in orbit, continuously inhabited since 2000, and operated as a microgravity laboratory.
Object type
Modular crewed space station
Assembly began
1998
Continuous habitation
Since November 2000
TransitSatellite connection
The ISS mission overview connects the tracked station, its engineering breakdown, assembly flights, modules, launch vehicles, and long-duration research program.
Assembly
A station built in orbit
ISS construction began with Zarya in 1998 and expanded through Russian module launches and a long series of Space Shuttle assembly flights that added nodes, laboratories, trusses, solar arrays, robotics, and logistics elements.
Operations
Permanent human presence in low Earth orbit
Since Expedition 1, crews have continuously lived and worked aboard the station. Visiting crew and cargo vehicles support the laboratory while partner agencies coordinate operations across an international ground network.
Research
A laboratory for Earth and beyond
ISS research spans human health, biology, materials, fluids, combustion, Earth observation, technology demonstrations, and systems needed for future exploration beyond low Earth orbit.
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