International Space Station

ISS

Mission Profile

The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest human-made structure in space, a permanently crewed orbital laboratory jointly operated by NASA, Roscosmos, ESA, JAXA, and CSA in a 400 km orbit. Construction began with the Russian Zarya module launch on 20 November 1998 and involved over 40 assembly flights across more than a decade, creating a 109-meter-long pressurized complex with the mass of a commercial airplane. The ISS has hosted more than 270 individuals from 20 countries since Expedition 1 arrived in November 2000, conducting research in biology, medicine, physics, materials science, and Earth observation in the unique microgravity environment. The station is planned to be deorbited around 2030, to be succeeded by commercially operated low Earth orbit destinations contracted through NASA's CLD program.