Crew members conduct spacewalks to construct the International Space Station. Astronauts perform many tasks as they orbit Earth. The space station is designed to be a permanent orbiting research facility. Its major purpose is to perform world-class science and research that only a microgravity environment can provide.Jun 8, 2015
Every so often, you can see the ISS in your night sky. To us on Earth, it looks like a bright star moving quickly above the horizon. Then, just as suddenly as it appears, it disappears. ... Visible to the naked eye, the station is best seen at dawn and dusk, and is the third brightest object in the sky.Nov 5, 2016
240: The average distance in miles above Earth's surface the ISS orbits (400 kilometers). On a clear day, the ISS is easily visible to the naked eye from the ground.Aug 3, 2017
This means that the owners of the Space Station - the United States, Russia, the European Partner, Japan and Canada - are legally responsible for the respective elements they provide. The European States are being treated as one homogenous entity, called the European Partner on the Space Station.Nov 19, 2013
The ISS consists of Canada, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United States, and eleven Member States of the European Space Agency (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom).
Asking the International Space Station to justify its existence is a tall order. NASA estimates the station has cost U.S. taxpayers $50 billion since 1994 — and overall, its price tag has been pegged at $100 billion by all member nations.Nov 1, 2010