The International Space Station seen from Space Shuttle Discovery after the craft was docked there for 8 days, 16 hours, and 46 minutes in 2011. The station, which launched in 1998 and has been occupied by teams of researchers since November 2000, is roughly the size of an American football field and weighs 827,794 pounds. At the time of this picture, the station had traveled more than 1.7 billion miles while orbiting the Earth 68,519 times. In the next photo, see the first crew aboard the International Space Station.
Image Credit: NASA
Meet the International Space Station's first crew. Expedition One commander William M. Shepherd, Soyuz commander Yuri P. Gidzenko and flight engineer Sergei K. Krikalev are shown here during a break in their training. They launched a Russian Soyuz craft on Halloween 2000 from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and docked two days later. The International Space Station welcomed its first inhabitants after nearly two years of in-space construction. Next, see what kind of work was done on the International Space Station.
Image Credit: NASA
The first International Space Station expedition was dominated by getting the station up and running, though the group also photographed and filmed Earth and performed a limited number of experiments. Here Expedition One Soyuz commander Yuri P. Gidzenko works with computers in the Zvezda Service Module. They undocked Mar. 18 and landed on Earth Mar. 21 aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery, which had brought up another crew.
Image Credit: NASA
The International Space Station is truly the work of many countries. Here the Mobile Servicing System's Canadarm2, built by a Canadian-company, lifts the Italian-made Leonardo Permanent Multipurpose Module from the American Space Shuttle Discovery. See astronauts working in a space laboratory in the next photo.
Image Credit: NASA
International Space Station missions have always included members from at least two countries. The station has hosted astronauts from Russia, the U.S., Germany, Japan, Canada, Belgium and France. In this 2008 photo (left to right), French astronaut Leopold Eyharts and Leland Melvin and Daniel Tani of NASA work in the station's Destiny science laboratory. Do you know how the astronauts stay in place while they are in space?
Image Credit: NASA
In space, up and down don't have the same sort of influence they do on Earth. In this 2008 photo, Mike Fossum, an American astronaut serving as mission specialist on the 24th space station expedition, examines checklists in the Kibo Pressurized Module, the first space structure built by Japan for human habitation. He keeps himself in place using one of the station's many toe bars.
Image Credit: NASA
While docking with the International Space Station (ISS) in June 2008, Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide tracks the range of the station with a handheld laser device from his perch on Space Shuttle Discovery's aft flight deck. In the next photo, see a space shuttle docked on the ISS.
Image Credit: NASA
The Space Shuttle Endeavour at rest, docked with the International Space Station (ISS) 220 miles above Earth. This May 2011 photo was taken by Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli. He and ISS Expedition 27 commander Dmitry Kondratyev, a Russian cosmonaut, were on a Soyuz spacecraft bound for Earth after 159 days in space. Next, see an astronaut working on a project outside the shuttle.
Image Credit: NASA
The International Space Station has the same living space as a five-bedroom house with two bathrooms. And like many homeowners, residents at the International Space Station do projects both indoors and out. In 2009, mission specialist Randy Bresnik conducted a 6-hour, 8-minute spacewalk to install a Grappling Adaptor to On-Orbit Railing Assembly (GATOR) on the Columbus laboratory. The unit includes a ham radio antenna and a ship-tracking antenna system. Bresnik and astronaut Mike Foreman (not pictured) also installed equipment that would allow spacewalkers to transmit video through the station back to Earth.
Image Credit: NASA
Space station astronauts walk inside as well. Exercise is key to maintaining muscle tone and bone mass in a weightless environment. In this 2010 photo, Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov, wearing a bungee harness, works out on the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill. This piece of equipment was installed after a controversial 2009 public vote to name a new node, or room, at the International Space Station. NASA's preferred names were Earthrise, Legacy, Serenity and Venture, but a majority of write-in voters chose Colbert, for Comedy Central host Stephen Colbert. Instead, NASA selected Tranquility, the No. 8 vote-getter, to honor Apollo 11, which landed at the lunar sea of Tranquility. "We don't typically name U.S. space station hardware after living people and this is no exception," explained NASA Associate Administrator for Space Operations Bill Gerstenmaier, who did invite the comedian to Houston to try out the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill (COLBERT).
Image Credit: NASA
Life on the International Space Station has its moments of normalcy. Here Expedition 16 flight engineer Daniel Tani gives himself a trim using clippers fixed with a vacuum unit to collect hair follicles that could damage sensitive equipment. For similar reasons, tortillas are a preferred food on NASA missions because they're bread without excessive crumbs. What kinds of personal items do you think astronauts bring to space?
Image Credit: NASA
In this photo from St. Patrick's Day 2011, American flight engineer Cady Coleman is perched in the international Space Station's Cupola holding two of the four flutes she brought along for the ride. Astronauts are allowed to take small personal items into space, which have included various school souvenirs and hometown mementos -- even NASCAR gear, courtesy of racing fan and pilot of the final Space Shuttle flight Doug Hurley.
Image Credit: NASA
Homecoming: A Russian Soyuz craft descends near the town of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan in Sept. 2010, carrying Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov, the International Space Station Expedition 24 commander, as well as flight engineers Tracy Caldwell Dyson of the U.S. and Mikhail Kornienko of Russia. The three spent six months at the station serving as crew for two expeditions.
Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
Here we see proof that, despite the incredible precision work they have to do, astronauts can still find a moment for a bit of fun. During this 2005 mission, Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi gives a friendly wave to his space-walking crew mate -- astronaut Stephen K. Robinson -- during a spacewalk by the two mission specialists. If you look closely at Noguchi's helmet visor, you can see Robinson in the reflection. In the next picture, we'll see astronaut Robinson in an even scarier place.
Image Credit: NASA
Sometimes there's not much keeping a mission specialist from the great reach of space beyond. During the same 2005 mission, astronaut Stephen K. Robinson conducts a spacewalk while anchored to a foot restraint on the International Space Station’s extended Canadarm2.
Image Credit: NASA
Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, space station Expedition 30 flight engineer, participates in a session of spacewalking to continue outfitting the space station. Shkaplerov and another spacewalker (out of view) also collected a test sample from underneath the insulation on the service module, searching for any signs of living organisms.
Image Credit: NASA
NASA astronaut Dan Burbank, Expedition 30 commander, cleans cabin air bacteria filters in the Tranquility node of the International Space Station.
Image Credit: NASA
Expedition 30 had a very special passenger. Robonaut 2, nicknamed "R2," shakes hands with NASA astronaut Dan Burbank in the Destiny laboratory of the International Space Station. This moment was historic -- the first human/robot handshake in space.
Image Credit: NASA
Crew members get to behold unforgettable views. The lights of a number of European nations shine in this image taken from the International Space Station. The photograph shows the British Isles (on the left, partially obstructed by one of the space station's solar array panels); London (just right of the panels, bottom center); Paris, in the lower-right corner; and the Netherlands on the right side. Another beautiful night scene follows in our next picture.
Image Credit: NASA
The aurora borealis is the attention-grabber in this nighttime photograph, shot as the space station flew over the American Midwest. The spacecraft was above south central Nebraska when the photo was taken.
Image Credit: NASA
Bon voyage! Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Kondratyev, an expedition commander, is shown near a window in the Zvezda service module of the space station. He's grabbing a photograph of the space station's departing, unpiloted Progress 41 supply vehicle. The Progress 41 was carrying trash and other unneeded items. Its fate was ultimately to be destroyed via controlled burn-up over the Pacific Ocean, upon its re-entry to Earth's atmosphere. Next, we'll witness another departure.
Image Credit: NASA
Here we see another unpiloted vehicle departing from the space station. This one was the European Space Agency's "Johannes Kepler" Automated Transfer Vehicle-2 (ATV-2). The ATV-2 undocked from the aft port of the Zvezda service module on June 20, 2011. Like the Progress 41, the ATV-2 was carrying waste and other unwanted items such as discarded hardware. It too would be purposely destroyed on re-entry. Speaking of destruction, our next picture offers a space-station's-eye view of a forest fire.
Image Credit: NASA
A crew member aboard the space station exposed this still photograph of a major fire in the Jemez Mountains of the Santa Fe National Forest, in north-central New Mexico. The fire was just southwest of Los Alamos National Laboratories.
Image Credit: NASA
NASA astronauts Mike Fossum (left) and Ron Garan perform in-flight maintenance in the Harmony node of the space station. When your home is on the International Space Station, there's always work to be done. In fact, there's more maintenance to see in our next photo.
Image Credit: NASA
If there's one item on the space station you'd want to be sure is well maintained, it's the space suits. In this picture, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, a flight engineer, performs protective maintenance on Extravehicular Mobility Unit spacesuits in the Quest airlock of the space station. In our next picture, we'll seen an cosmonaut going green.
Image Credit: NASA
Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov, Expedition 29 flight engineer, checks on the progress of an experiment being performed on plants in a greenhouse in the Zvezda service module. Next, we'll see the kind of tracks a supply vehicle makes on re-entry.
Image Credit: NASA
This picture shows the re-entry plasma trail of the Progress 42P supply vehicle. Progress 42P had docked at the space station on April 29, 2011, and was undocked and de-orbited (allowed to burn up) approximately 183 days later on Oct. 29, 2011. The space station was over the southern Pacific Ocean when this shot was captured. In the upper part of the picture, light from the rising sun illuminates the curvature of the Earth's horizon line. At the top-left, airglow is visible. Airglow is caused by light emitted at specific wavelengths by atoms and molecules that are excited by ultraviolet radiation in the upper atmosphere.
Image Credit: NASA
NASA astronaut George Zamka in February 2010 in the just-installed Cupola, which was built by Thales Alenia Space Italy (TAS-I). It can hold two people and serve as a base for robotic operations. After it was attached, the station was 85 percent complete. The dark panels are shutters that flip up to protect the windows from micrometeorites, orbital debris and contamination. See NASA's final mission to the International Space Station in the next photo.
Image Credit: NASA
In July 2011, NASA conducted its final space shuttle mission to the International Space Station. In this image, Space Shuttle Atlantis is over the Bahamas, just before executing a perfect docking mission. The dark object at the top of the frame is part of a docked Russian spacecraft.
Image Credit: NASA
In our final picture, we get a top-down view of astronauts and cosmonauts coming home after serving several months onboard the International Space Station. The Soyuz TMA-02M capsule lands in Kazakhstan, and Russian support personnel arrive to assist.
Now that you have seen our International Space Station pictures, check out these space shuttle launches photos!
Image Credit: NASA
Comments ( )