International Space Station Museum

The International Space Station, or ISS for short, is a space station placed in low Earth orbit. It was launched into Earth orbit in 1998 and has served as the primary research and exploration platform for human spaceflight ever since. The ISS was built with the contributions of a number of international partnerships and is used for various scientific research as well as living and working space for astronauts. It is the largest artificial satellite in Earth orbit and can be seen even with the naked eye on a clear day.

Entrance

The International Space Station also serves as a laboratory. It allows the crew to conduct experiments in biology, physiology, physics, chemistry, astronomy, meteorology and many other sciences. It also allows testing of equipment and systems to be used in Moon and Mars missions.

The station, which holds the record for the longest uninterrupted human presence in space, has hosted and continues to accommodate space crew for 7093 days without interruption since the Discovery 1 shuttle arrived at the station on November 2, 2000. The previous record was held by the Soviet space station Mir with 3644 days. The International Space Station has hosted astronauts and cosmonauts from 15 different nations to date.