The International Space Station celebrated its 10th anniversary

The 10th anniversary of the International Space Station (ISS) is on July 26. On this day 10 years ago, the Russian module Zvezda was added to the International Space Station, providing a living and working area for cosmonauts and astronauts.

The ISS is the largest scientific and technical project in recent history. Sixteen countries participate in it, including Russia, the United States, Japan, France, Germany and Britain.

The development of the International Space Station began with a near-Earth orbit on November 20, 1998, with the first module – the Functional Cargo Block (FCB) Zarya. In December 1998, the Space Shuttle Endeavor successfully put the Node-1 (Unity) module into orbit and docked it with the FCB Zarya. In July 2000, the Russian carrier rocket Proton-K successfully put the third module of the ISS into orbit – the Zvezda service module.

Russian Soyuz spacecraft have an extensive record of space flight and have served as escape vehicles for crew in case they need to flee the station. Since the beginning of the station’s construction, around 190 people have been inside. Since the station orbits the Earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of about 340 kilometers, its inhabitants see a sunrise or sunset every 45 minutes.

The ISS has two mission control centers: a Russian center in the city of Korolyov in the Moscow Region and a U.S. center in Houston. The station will be in orbit until 2016-2020.

/en.rian.ru/