International Space Station: 10 Interesting Facts

By- Naiteek Bhatt

The International Space Station or ISS is a permanently crewed on-orbit laboratory

The ISS is a multi-nation construction project and was designed between 1984 and 1993

The main construction of the International Space Station was completed between 1998 and 2011

The International Space Station is 356 feet end-to-end and orbits Earth at an altitude of approximately 402 km

The orbiting laboratory is the largest humanmade object ever to orbit Earth with a mass of over 4,00,000 kg

It travels at 17,500 mph and orbits Earth every 90 minutes.

The ISS carries a crew of between 3 and 13 depending on the number of people and passenger vehicles during the handover periods

The ISS has hosted over 260 individuals from 21 countries in over 60 expeditions

There have been over 260 spacewalks at the International Space Station since 1998

The Space agencies of the US, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada operate the ISS