International Space Station (ISS)

International Space Station (ISS), space station assembled in low Earth orbit largely by the United States and Russia, with assistance and components from a multinational consortium.
The project, which began as an American effort, was long delayed by funding and technical problems. Originally called Freedom in the 1980s by Pres. Ronald Reagan, who authorized the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to build it within 10 years, it was redesigned in the 1990s to reduce costs and expand international involvement, at which time it was renamed. In 1993 the United States and Russia agreed to merge their separate space station plans into a single facility integrating their respective modules and incorporating contributions from the European Space Agency (ESA) and Japan.

Assembly of the ISS began with the launches of the Russian control module Zarya on Nov. 20, 1998, and the U.S.-built Unity connecting node the following month, which were linked in orbit by U.S. space shuttle astronauts. In mid-2000 the Russian-built module Zvezda, a habitat and control centre, was added, and on November 2 of that year the ISS received its first resident crew, comprising two Russians and an American, who flew up in a Soyuz spacecraft. A NASA microgravity laboratory called Destiny and other elements were subsequently joined to the station, with the overall plan calling for the assembly, over a period of several years, of a complex of laboratories and habitats crossed by a long truss supporting four units that held large solar-power arrays and thermal radiators. Aside from the United States and Russia, station construction involved Canada, Japan, Brazil, and 11 ESA members. Russian modules were carried into space by Russian expendable launch vehicles, after which they automatically rendezvoused with and docked to the ISS. Other elements were ferried up by space shuttle and assembled in orbit during space walks. Both shuttles and Russian Soyuz spacecraft transported people to and from the station, and a Soyuz remained docked to the ISS at all times as a “lifeboat.”
Much of the early research work by ISS astronauts was to focus on long-term life-sciences and material-sciences investigations in the weightless environment. After the breakup of the space shuttle orbiter Columbia in February 2003, the shuttle fleet was grounded, which effectively halted expansion of the station. Meanwhile, the crew was reduced from three to two, and their role was restricted mainly to caretaker status, limiting the amount of science that could be done. Crews flew up to and returned from the ISS in Soyuz spacecraft, and the station was serviced by automated Progress ferries.
After the shuttle resumed regular flights in 2006, the ISS crew size was increased to three. Construction resumed in September of that year, with the addition of a pair of solar wings and a thermal radiator. The European-built American node, Harmony, was placed on the end of Destiny in October 2007. Harmony has a docking port for the space shuttle and connecting ports for a European laboratory, Columbus, and a Japanese laboratory, Kibo. In February 2008 Columbus was mounted on Harmony’s starboard side. Columbus was Europe’s first long-duration manned space laboratory and contained experiments in such fields as biology and fluid dynamics. In the following month an improved variant of the Ariane V rocket launched Europe’s heaviest spacecraft, the Jules Verne Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), which carried 7,700 kg (17,000 pounds) of supplies to the ISS. Also in March 2008 shuttle astronauts brought the Canadian robot, Dextre, which was so sophisticated that it would be able to perform tasks that previously would have required astronauts to make space walks, and the first part of Kibo. In June 2008 the main part of Kibo was installed.

The ISS became fully operational in May 2009 when it began hosting a six-person crew; this required two Soyuz lifeboats to be docked with the ISS at all times. An external platform was attached to the far end of Kibo in July 2009, and a Russian docking port and airlock, Poisk, was attached to the Zvezda module in November 2009. A third node, Tranquility, was installed in 2010, and mounted on this was a cupola, whose robotic workstation and many windows enabled astronauts to supervise external operations.
After completion of the ISS, the shuttle will be retired from service in 2011. Thereafter the ISS will be serviced by Russia’s Progress, Europe’s ATV, Japan’s H-II Transfer Vehicle, and two commercial cargo vehicles, SpaceX’s Dragon and Orbital Sciences Corporation’s Cygnus, that are currently under development in the United States. Until American companies develop manned spacecraft, astronauts will use Soyuz spacecraft to reach the ISS. The space agencies that are partners in the ISS have not definitively decided when the program will end, but in 2010 the administration of Pres. Barack Obama announced that the ISS program would continue “likely beyond 2020.”

David M. Harland The table lists the spaceflights that have gone to the International Space Station.

Chronology of manned missions to the International Space Station
	mission	country	crew	dates	notes
	STS-88 (Endeavour)/International Space Station (ISS)	U.S.	Robert Cabana; Frederick Sturckow; Jerry Ross; Nancy Currie; James Newman; Sergey Krikalyov	Dec. 4–15, 1998	linked first two modules of ISS (Zarya [Russia] and Unity [U.S.])
	STS-96 (Discovery)/ISS	U.S.	Kent Rominger; Rick Husband; Tamara Jernigan; Ellen Ochoa; Daniel Barry; Julie Payette; Valery Tokarev	May 27–June 6, 1999	carried supplies to ISS
	STS-101 (Atlantis)/ISS	U.S.	James Halsell; Scott Horowitz; Mary Weber; Jeffrey Williams; James Voss; Susan Helms; Yuri Usachyov	May 19–29, 2000	ISS outfitting and repair
	STS-106 (Atlantis)/ISS	U.S.	Terrence Wilcutt; Scott Altman; Edward Lu; Richard Mastracchio; Daniel Burbank; Yury Malenchenko; Boris Morukov	Sept. 8–20, 2000	completed docking of Russian-built Zvezda module to ISS
	STS-92 (Discovery)/ISS	U.S.	Brian Duffy; Pamela Melroy; Leroy Chiao; William McArthur; Peter Wisoff; Michael Lopez-Alegria; Wakata Koichi	Oct. 11–24, 2000	delivered Z1 truss to ISS
	Soyuz TM-31/ISS	Russia	Yuri Gidzenko; William Shepherd; Sergey Krikalyov	Oct. 31, 2000–March 21, 2001	first ISS crew (Expedition 1)
	STS-97 (Endeavour)/ISS	U.S.	Brent Jett; Michael Bloomfield; Joseph Tanner; Marc Garneau; Carlos Noriega	Nov. 30–Dec. 11, 2000	mounted solar arrays on Z1 truss
	STS-98 (Atlantis)/ISS	U.S.	Kenneth Cockrell; Mark Polansky; Robert Curbeam; Marsha Ivins; Thomas Jones	Feb. 7–20, 2001	addition of U.S.-built Destiny laboratory module to ISS
	STS-102 (Discovery)/ISS	U.S.	James Wetherbee; James Kelly; Andrew Thomas; James Voss; Susan Helms; Yuri Usachyov	March 8–21, 2001 (Aug. 22 [Voss, Helms, Usachyov])	delivery of Expedition 2 crew (Usachyov, Voss, Helms) and ESA-built logistics module Leonardo to ISS
	STS-100 (Endeavour)/ISS	U.S.	Kent Rominger; Jeffrey Ashby; Chris Hadfield; John Phillips; Scott Parazynski; Umberto Guidoni; Yuri Lonchakov	April 19–May 1, 2001	added Canadian robotic arm Canadarm2 to ISS
	Soyuz TM-32/ISS	Russia	Talgat Musabayev; Yury Baturin; Dennis Tito	April 28–May 6, 2001	first space tourist (Tito)
	STS-104 (Atlantis)/ISS	U.S.	Steven Lindsey; Charles Hobaugh; Michael Gernhardt; Janet Kavandi; James Reilly	July 12–24, 2001	addition of U.S.-built Quest air lock to ISS
	STS-105 (Discovery)/ISS	U.S.	Scott Horowitz; Frederick Sturckow; Patrick Forrester; Thomas Barry; Frank Culbertson; Mikhail Tyurin; Vladimir Dezhurov	Aug. 10–22, 2001 (Dec. 17 [Culbertson, Tyurin, Dezhurov])	delivery of Expedition 3 crew (Culbertson, Tyurin, Dezhurov) and ESA-built logistics module Leonardo to ISS
	Soyuz TM-33/ISS	Russia	Viktor Afanasiyev; Claudie Haigneré; Konstantin Kozeyev	Oct. 21–31, 2001	exchange of Soyuz return craft for ISS crew
	STS-108 (Endeavour)/ISS	U.S.	Dominic Gorie; Mark Kelly; Linda Godwin; Daniel Tani; Yury Onufriyenko; Daniel Bursch; Carl Walz	Dec. 5–17, 2001 (June 15, 2002 [Onufriyenko, Bursch, Walz])	delivery of Expedition 4 crew (Onufriyenko, Bursch, Walz) and ESA-built logistics module Raffaello to ISS
	STS-110 (Atlantis)/ISS	U.S.	Michael Bloomfield; Stephen Frick; Rex Walheim; Ellen Ochoa; Lee Morin; Jerry Ross; Steven Smith	April 8–19, 2002	delivered S0 truss to ISS
	Soyuz TM-34/ISS	Russia	Yury Gidzenko; Roberto Vittori; Mark Shuttleworth	April 25–May 5, 2002	first South African in space (Shuttleworth)
	STS-111 (Endeavour)/ISS	U.S.	Kenneth Cockrell; Paul Lockhart; Philippe Perrin; Franklin Chang-Diaz; Peggy Whitson; Valery Korzun; Sergey Treschyov	June 5–19, 2002 (Dec. 7 [Whitson, Korzun, Treschyov])	delivered Expedition 5 crew (Whitson, Korzun, Treschyov) and equipment to ISS
	STS-112 (Atlantis)/ISS	U.S.	Jeffrey Ashby; Pamela Melroy; David Wolf; Sandra Magnus; Piers Sellers; Fyodor Yurchikhin	Oct. 7–18, 2002	delivered S1 truss to ISS
	Soyuz TMA-1/ISS	Russia	Sergei Zalyotin; Frank De Winne; Yury Lonchakov	Oct. 30–Nov. 10, 2002	exchange of Soyuz return craft for ISS crew
	STS-113 (Endeavour)/ISS	U.S.	James Wetherbee; Paul Lockhart; Michael Lopez-Alegria; John Herrington; Kenneth Bowersox; Nikolay Budarin; Donald Pettit	Nov. 23–Dec. 7, 2002 (May 4, 2003 [Bowersox, Budarin, Pettit])	delivered Expedition 6 crew (Bowersox, Budarin, Pettit) and P1 truss to ISS
	Soyuz TMA-2/ISS	Russia	Yury Malchenko; Edward Lu	April 26–Oct. 28, 2003	Expedition 7 crew to ISS
	Soyuz TMA-3/ISS	Russia	Aleksandr Kaleri; Pedro Duque; Michael Foale	Oct. 18, 2003–April 30, 2004 (Oct. 28 [Duque])	Expedition 8 crew (Kaleri, Foale) to ISS
	Soyuz TMA-4/ISS	Russia	Gennadi Padalka; Andre Kuipers; Edward Fincke	April 19–Oct. 24, 2004 (April 30 [Kuipers])	Expedition 9 crew (Padalka, Fincke) to ISS
	Soyuz TMA-5/ISS	Russia	Salizhan Sharipov; Leroy Chiao; Yury Shargin	Oct. 14, 2004–April 24, 2005 (Oct. 24 [Shargin])	Expedition 10 crew (Sharipov, Chiao) to ISS
	Soyuz TMA-6/ISS	Russia	Sergey Krikalyov; Roberto Vittori; John Phillips	April 15–Oct. 11, 2005 (Oct. 24 [Vittori])	Expedition 11 crew (Krikalyov, Phillips) to ISS
	STS-114 (Discovery)/ISS	U.S.	Eileen Collins; James Kelly; Soichi Noguchi; Stephen Robinson; Andrew Thomas; Wendy Lawrence; Charles Camarda	July 26–Aug. 9, 2005	first space shuttle flight after Columbia disaster
	Soyuz TMA-7/ISS	Russia	Valery Tokarev; William McArthur; Gregory Olsen	Oct. 1, 2005–April 8, 2006 (Oct. 11 [Olsen])	Expedition 12 crew (McArthur, Tokarev) to ISS
	Soyuz TMA-8/ISS	Russia	Pavel Vinogradov; Jeffrey Williams; Marcos Pontes	March 30–Sept. 29, 2006 (April 8 [Pontes])	Expedition 13 crew (Vinogradov, Williams) to ISS; first Brazilian astronaut (Pontes)
	STS-121 (Discovery)/ISS	U.S.	Steven Lindsey; Mark Kelly; Michael Fossum; Lisa Nowak; Piers Sellers; Stephanie Wilson; Thomas Reiter	July 4–17, 2006 (Dec. 22 [Reiter])	increased ISS crew from two to three (Reiter)
	STS-115 (Atlantis)/ISS	U.S.	Brent Jett; Christopher Ferguson; Joseph Tanner; Daniel Burbank; Heidimarie Stefanyshyn-Piper; Steven MacLean	Sept. 9–21, 2006	attached solar array to ISS
	Soyuz TMA-9/ISS	Russia	Mikhail Tyurin; Michael Lopez-Alegria; Anousheh Ansari	Sept. 18, 2006–April 21, 2007 (Sept. 29 [Ansari])	Expedition 14 crew (Lopez-Alegria, Tyurin) to ISS
	STS-116 (Discovery)/ISS	U.S.	Mark Polansky; William Oefelein; Nicholas Patrick; Robert Curbeam; Christer Fuglesang; Joan Higginbotham; Sunita Williams	Dec. 9–22, 2006 (June 22, 2007 [Williams])	connected new solar array to ISS electric system; first Swedish astronaut (Fuglesang); longest spaceflight by a woman (Williams; 194 days, 18 hours)
	Soyuz TMA-10/ISS	Russia	Oleg Kotov; Fyodor Yurchikhin; Charles Simonyi	April 7–Oct. 21, 2007 (April 21 [Simonyi])	Expedition 15 crew (Kotov, Yurchikhin) to ISS
	STS-117 (Atlantis)/ISS	U.S.	Frederick Sturckow; Lee Archambault; Patrick Forrester; Steven Swanson; John Olivas; James Reilly; Clayton Anderson	June 8–22, 2007 (Nov. 7 [Anderson])	delivered S3/S4 truss to ISS
	STS-118 (Endeavour)/ISS	U.S.	Scott Kelly; Charles Hobaugh; Tracy Caldwell; Richard Mastracchio; Dafydd Williams; Barbara Morgan; Benjamin Drew	Aug. 8–21, 2007	delivered S5 truss
	Soyuz TMA-11/ISS	Russia	Yury Malenchenko; Peggy Whitson; Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor	Oct. 10, 2007–April 19, 2008 (Oct. 21 [Sheikh])	Expedition 16 crew (Whitson, Malenchenko) to ISS; first Malaysian astronaut (Sheikh)
	STS-120 (Discovery)/ISS	U.S.	Pamela Melroy; George Zamka; Scott Parazynski; Stephanie Wilson; Douglas Wheelock; Paolo Nespoli; Daniel Tani	Oct. 23–Nov. 7, 2007 (Feb. 20, 2008 [Tani])	added Harmony node to ISS
	STS-122 (Atlantis)/ISS	U.S.	Stephen Frick; Alan Poindexter; Stanley Love; Leland Melvin; Rex Walheim; Hans Schlegel; Leopold Eyharts	Feb. 7–20, 2008 (March 26 [Eyharts])	added ESA Columbus laboratory module to ISS
	STS-123 (Endeavour)/ISS	U.S.	Dominic Gorie; Gregory Johnson; Robert Behnkne; Michael Foreman; Doi Takao; Richard Linnehan; Garrett Reisman	March 11–26, 2008 (June 14 [Reisman])	added Canadian robot Dextre to ISS
	Soyuz TMA-12/ISS	Russia	Sergey Volkov; Oleg Kononenko; Yi So-Yeon	April 8–Oct. 24, 2008 (April 19 [Yi])	Expedition 17 crew (Volkov, Kononenko) to ISS; first second-generation cosmonaut (Volkov); first Korean astronaut (Yi)
	STS-124 (Discovery)/ISS	U.S.	Mark Kelly; Kenneth Ham; Karen Nyberg; Ronald Garan; Michael Fossum; Hoshide Akihiko; Gregory Chamitoff	May 31–June 14, 2008 (Nov. 30 [Chamitoff])	added Japanese Kibo laboratory module to ISS
	Soyuz TMA-13/ISS	Russia	Yuri Lonchakov; Michael Fincke; Richard Garriott	Oct. 12, 2008–April 8, 2009 (Oct. 24, 2008 [Garriott])	Expedition 18 crew (Fincke, Lonchakov) to ISS; first second-generation American astronaut (Garriott)
	STS-126 (Endeavour)/ISS	U.S.	Christopher Ferguson; Eric Boe; Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper; Donald Pettit; Stephen Bowen; Robert Kimbrough; Sandra Magnus	Nov. 14–30, 2008 (March 28, 2009 [Magnus])	delivered equipment that would allow a six-person crew on the ISS
	STS-119 (Discovery)/ISS	U.S.	Lee Archambault; Dominic Antonelli; John Phillips; Steven Swanson; Joseph Acaba; Richard Arnold; Wakata Koichi	March 15–28, 2009 (July 31 [Wakata])	added final solar array to ISS
	Soyuz TMA-14/ISS	Russia	Gennadi Padalka; Michael Barratt; Charles Simonyi	March 26–Oct. 11, 2009 (April 8 [Simonyi])	Expeditions 19 and 20 crew (Padalka, Barratt); first repeat space tourist (Simonyi)
	Soyuz TMA-15/ISS	Russia	Roman Romanenko; Frank De Winne; Robert Thirsk	May 27–Dec. 1, 2009	Expeditions 20 and 21 crew; brought ISS to full crew of six
	STS-127 (Endeavour)/ISS	U.S.	Mark Polansky; Douglas Hurley; David Wolf; Julie Payette; Christopher Cassidy; Thomas Marshburn; Timothy Kopra	July 15–31, 2009 (Sept. 11 [Kopra])	added facility exposed to space to the Japanese Kibo laboratory module
	STS-128 (Discovery)/ISS	U.S.	Frederick Sturckow; Kevin Ford; Patrick Forrester; John Olivas; Jose Hernandez; Christer Fuglesang; Nicole Stott	Aug. 29–Sept. 11, 2009 (Nov. 27 [Stott])	delivery of ESA-built logistics module Leonardo to ISS
	Soyuz TMA-16/ISS	Russia	Maksim Suryaev; Jeffrey Williams; Guy Laliberté	Sept. 29, 2009–March 18, 2010 (Oct. 11, 2009 [Laliberté])	Expeditions 21 and 22 crew (Suryaev, Williams)
	STS-129 (Atlantis)/ISS	U.S.	Charles Hobaugh; Barry Wilmore; Michael Foreman; Robert Satcher; Randolph Bresnik; Leland Melvin	Nov. 16–27, 2009	delivery of spare parts to ISS
	Soyuz TMA-17/ISS	Russia	Oleg Kotov; Noguchi Soichi; Timothy Creamer	Dec. 21, 2009–June 2, 2010	Expeditions 22 and 23 crew
	STS-130 (Endeavour)/ISS	U.S.	George Zamka; Terry Virts; Kathryn Hire; Stephen Robinson; Robert Behnken; Nicholas Patrick	Feb. 8–21, 2010	installed Tranquility node on ISS
	Soyuz TMA-18/ISS	Russia	Aleksandr Skvortsov; Mikhail Korniyenko; Tracy Caldwell Dyson	April 4–Sept. 25, 2010	Expeditions 23 and 24 crew
	STS-131 (Discovery)/ISS	U.S.	Alan Poindexter; James Dutton, Jr.; Dorothy Metcalf-   Lindenburger; Stephanie Wilson; Richard Mastracchio; Yamazaki Naoko; Clayton Anderson	April 5–20, 2010	delivery of ESA-built logistics module Leonardo to ISS
	STS-132 (Atlantis)/ISS	U.S.	Kenneth Ham; Dominic Antonelli; Michael Good; Piers Sellers; Stephen Bowen; Garrett Reisman	May 14–26, 2010	delivery of Russian-built Mini Research Module to ISS; last flight of Atlantis
	Soyuz TMA-19/ISS	Russia	Fyodor Yurchikhin; Shannon Walker; Douglas Wheelock	June 16– , 2010	Expeditions 24 and 25 crew
	Soyuz TMA-01M/ISS	Russia	Aleksandr Kaleri; Oleg Skripochka; Scott Kelly	Oct. 8– , 2010	Expeditions 25 and 26 crew