The International Space Station is a space station, or a habitable artificial satellite, in low Earth orbit. The ISS programme is a joint project between five participating space agencies: NASA, Roscosmos, JAXA, ESA, and CSA. The ownership and use of the space station is established by intergovernmental treaties and agreements. The station serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory in which crew members conduct experiments in biology, human biology, physics, astronomy, meteorology, and other fields. The first ISS component launched into orbit in 1998; the last pressurized module was added in 2009. As of March 2020 there have been ten permanently manned missions to the ISS since it began operating on November 2 2000 with an expected total lifespan of 15 years until 2024 when Russia plans to de-orbit it.
The American Space Shuttle program delivered the first piece of the ISS -the Russian Zarya module- into orbit in November 1998 after which construction of the rest of the station continued until its completion over a decade later. More than 50 countries have contributed to the ISS program making it one of humanity’s greatest international endeavours ever undertaken. Over 200 people from 18 different nations have visited the ISS as part of its scientific research crews including Canadian Chris Hadfield who became famous for his social media postings during his time aboard the station.
Since its inception, many challenges and obstacles faced by those working on building and maintaining such an outpost in space have had to be overcome including technical difficulties posed by weightlessness as well as cultural issues that come with having astronauts from various countries living together for extended periods of time often far away from their families back home on Earth. Despite these challenges however life aboard the ISS has been described by many as an incredible experience offering unique perspectives not just on our planet but also out into deep space itself making it an important tool not just for science but for promoting peace and international cooperation among all nations involved in its operation