The Incredible ISS Look up into a clear sky around dawn or dusk and you might see something incredible At first glance the spot of bright light looks like a star But it moves steadily across the sky What is it An alien spacecraft Nope It’s the International Space Station or ISS The ISS is about 250 miles 400 km above our heads orbiting around Earth And what’s even more incredible is that a team of people lives inside it The ISS’s main purpose is research Imagine doing science experiments while floating above Earth THE VIEW IS OUTTA THIS WORLD THAT’S RIGHT IT HAD ONLY THREE ROOMS THE ISS WAS SO TINY BACK THEN The first crew to live aboard the ISS arrived there more than 20 years ago 4
Many nations including the United States Russia Canada Germany and Japan have worked together to build and run the ISS Great teamwork THEY’RE COMING WE’D BETTER CLEAN UP QUICK NO WORRIES WE HAVE SIX HOURS LEFT It usually takes four to six hours to travel from Earth to the ISS On October 14 2020 a spacecraft traveled from Earth to the ISS in a record-breaking three hours and three minutes NO YOU DON’T WE’LL BE THERE IN RECORD TIME 5
Building a Space Station So how do you build a huge floating home and laboratory in space With lots of careful planning Starting in 1998 there were 42 flights from Earth to space to deliver parts for the ISS’s main structure Astronauts had to put all the parts together Today the ISS is the largest human-made space object It’s also the most expensive structure ever built costing 120 billion What did they get for all that money The ISS has six sleeping areas for the crew but only two bathrooms I CALL DIBS ON THE BATHROOM BETTER GET IN LINE The ISS weighs 420 tons 381 t That’s about the same as 350 cars 6
More than 50 computers help run the ISS COOL HELLO OUT THERE WHAT DO YOU THINK OF MY SPACE HAIRDO The ISS’s electrical systems use 8 miles 13 km of wiring The ISS is 357 feet 109 m from one end to another That’s about as long as a football field The area where the crew lives and works is about two times larger than the inside of a regular airplane IT’S NOT JUST BIGGER THAN AN AIRPLANE-IT’S MORE FUN TOO 7
