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International Space Station

Explorer · ages 7 and underAdapted from Wikipedia
The International Space Station photographed from the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour during a fly-around in November 2021, after the spacecraft undocked from the station.

What Is It?

The International Space Station is a home and science lab in space. It orbits low Earth orbit, about 400 kilometres above our planet. Scientists go there to do experiments in microgravity.

It is a research station that is also the biggest spacecraft people have ever built. Its inside is about the size of a Boeing 747 airplane.

Who Helps Run It?

Five space agencies work together to run the station. They are NASA from the United States, Roscosmos from Russia, ESA from Europe, JAXA from Japan, and CSA from Canada. Fifteen countries take part in the program.

It was the first space station built, cared for, and visited by many countries working together.

A Home in Space

The station circles Earth about 15.5 times every day. Its body and solar panels together are about the size of a football or soccer field.

The first parts, Zarya and Unity, were sent up in 1998. Since 2 November 2000, people have lived on the station without a break. This is the longest time people have lived in space. More than 290 visitors from 26 countries have come to stay for a while.

The station is planned to keep working until the end of 2030. Visitors still arrive on spacecraft such as Crew Dragon.

Quiz time!

3 questions about International Space Station

Question 1 of 3

What is the International Space Station?

Pictures

Comet Lovejoy appears near Earth's horizon, glowing behind a layer of airglow, in this night photo taken from the International Space Station in December 2011.
A labeled drawing showing the parts of the International Space Station, a large laboratory that orbits high above Earth.
An artist's drawing of an Apollo spacecraft (left) getting ready to dock with a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft in Earth orbit, as part of the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, a joint space mission between the United States and the Soviet Union.
Astronaut Michael Foale checks the Microgravity Science Glovebox inside the Destiny laboratory on the International Space Station.
The International Space Station and the docked Space Shuttle Endeavour, photographed by a spacewalker during the STS-134 mission in 2011, with Earth's horizon and the dark of space behind them.
Small CubeSat satellites float in space after being released from the International Space Station, with Earth's edge visible in the background.
NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Bob Hines work on the XROOTS experiment aboard the International Space Station, testing ways to grow plants without soil for future space farming.
Two flames side by side: on Earth, hot air rises and makes a tall, slender flame, while in microgravity with no gravity pulling the hot air upward, the flame spreads out into a round ball.
Expedition 17 crew members pose inside the Jules Verne ATV, alongside an original manuscript and a 19th-century book by Jules Verne.
An image related to the agreements that help countries work together on the International Space Station.
Inside the Space Station Processing Facility, an overhead crane lifts the S3/S4 truss, a metal framework that will help power and cool the International Space Station.
The International Space Station photographed from the Space Shuttle Atlantis after docking, with the station standing out against the dark of space.
The International Space Station photographed by a crew member on Space Shuttle Atlantis after the two spacecraft separated following their undocking in May 2010.
Blueprint of the ISS (as of 2018)
Rendering of the ISS (as of 2023)
Zarya as seen by Space Shuttle Endeavour during STS-88
Unity as seen by Space Shuttle Endeavour during STS-88
The interactions between the components of the ISS Environmental Control and Life-Support System (ECLSS)
ISS External Active Thermal Control System (EATCS) diagram
Chart of the number of ISS missions longer than 90 days, until 2020
Jessica Meir, current commander
The Progress M-14M resupply vehicle approaching the ISS in 2012. Nearly 100 unpiloted Progress spacecraft have delivered supplies during the lifetime of the station.
Orbits of the ISS, shown in April 2013
Radar-trackable objects, including debris, with distinct ring of geostationary satellites
Pavel Vinogradov looks out of a Poisk hatch window at Alexander Misurkin on EVA.
Astronaut Frank De Winne, attached to the TVIS treadmill with bungee cords aboard the ISS
Cosmonaut Nikolai Budarin at work inside the Zvezda service module crew quarters
Many ISS resupply spacecraft have already undergone atmospheric re-entry, such as Jules Verne ATV.

Keep exploring

Low Earth orbit
Boeing 747
NASA
United States
Russia
European Space Agency

This article is a child-friendly adaptation of the Wikipedia article on International Space Station, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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