International Space Station: The Science Lab in Space
THE SCIENCE LAB IN SPACE The International Space Station ISS is an enormous spacecraft that orbits the Earth It took years to build and the efforts of several countries Today the space station is a science lab where many experiments are conducted The crew of astronauts are learning the best ways to live and work in space This information will help future astronauts explore Mars and other places in our solar system
XTREME FACT The ISS orbits about 220 miles 354 km above Earth It takes about 90 minutes to complete one orbit around the planet
SPACE STATION HISTORY Space stations are spacecraft that orbit the Earth for months or years Salyut 1 was the first space station It was put in orbit by the Soviet Union in 1971 Salyut 7 was put in orbit in 1982 Skylab The United States launched its first space station in 1973 It was called Skylab It orbited the Earth until 1979
The first part of Russia's Mir space station was launched in 1986 It was built in sections It orbited until 2001 The lessons learned from these early spacecraft were later used to help build the International Space Station Mir XTREME FACT In 2011 China launched a small space station named Tiangong 1 It was followed by Tiangong 2 in 2016 A larger modular Chinese space station is planned for 2020
