Happy birthday ISS! The International Space Station celebrates 15 momentous years - and 174 spacewalks - in orbit

  • Since 1998, 1,500 scientific studies have been carried out on the ISS
  • Results are being used back on Earth by 69 countries who have taken part
  • ISS has a mass of almost a million pounds and is the size of a football field
  • Nasa says it is confident the habitat is safe to stay in orbit until 2028, and possibly much longer

By Ellie Zolfagharifard

PUBLISHED: 11:40 EST, 21 November 2013 | UPDATED: 11:47 EST, 21 November 2013

The International Space Station (ISS), the second brightest object in our night sky, celebrates its 15th birthday today.

Its journey began back in November 20th 1998, when the Russian Space Agency launched a spacecraft called Zarya into orbit.

The launch was the dawn of the largest international cooperation effort in space to ever come to fruition.

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The International Space Station, the second brightest object in our night sky, celebrates its 15th birthday today

The International Space Station, the second brightest object in our night sky, celebrates its 15th birthday today

Zarya became the first piece of the International Space Station, which is currently in orbit 220 miles above Earth.

 

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Two weeks later, on December 4 1998, the space shuttle Endeavour launched Unity, the first U.S. piece of the complex.

The two space modules built on opposite sides of the planet were about to be joined together in space, making the space station an international collaboration.

 

ISS

Blanketing clouds form the backdrop for this 70mm scene of the connected Zarya and Unity modules after having been released from Endeavour's cargo bay a bit earlier

‘We definitely knew there was no margin for error on that first mission—we had to be successful,’ said Bob Cabana, the Kennedy Space Center director.

‘We also knew that it wasn’t all on the crew. This was a team effort, and everyone was giving it all they had to ensure success.’

Since that first momentous meeting of Zarya and Unity, the space station has grown piece by piece.

Today the ISS has a mass of almost a million pounds and is the size of a football field.

ISS

To date, station and shuttle crews have conducted 174 spacewalks totalling almost 1,100 hours

Inside ISS

Astronaut Nicole Stott installs hardware in the Fluids Integrated Rack in the Destiny laboratory of the International Space Station during Expedition 21

 

It represents a collaboration between Nasa, Roscosmos, the European Space Agency, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

The ISS is the only lab that can be used to carry out sustained scientific research in microgravity conditions.

So far at least 1,500 scientific studies have been carried out in space, and the results are being used back here on Earth by the 69 countries that have taken part.

The first crew to inhabit the space station launched on a Soyuz spacecraft on October 31, 2000.

ISS

The first crew to inhabit the space station launched on a Soyuz spacecraft on October 31, 2000

15 years of the ISS

The International Space Station's length and width is about the size of an American football field

Astronaut James H. Newman waves during a spacewalk preparing for release of the first combined elements of the International Space Station

Astronaut James H. Newman waves during a spacewalk preparing for release of the first combined elements of the International Space Station

Their arrival on board the station marked the start of a permanent human presence in space.

To date, station and shuttle crews have conducted 174 spacewalks totalling almost 1,100 hours – the equivalent to nearly 46 days of spacewalks to build and maintain the complex.

 ‘It’s hard to believe it’s been 15 years since we joined Unity and Zarya in orbit and laid the cornerstone for the International Space Station,’ Mr Cabana said.

ISS

So far at least 1,500 scientific studies have been carried out in space

Astro ISS

Astronaut Rick Mastracchio, Expedition 38 flight engineer, works with equipment in the Destiny laboratory of the International Space Station

ISS earth by night

A picture of Earth taken by the International Space Station by night

‘It is truly an engineering marvel and a testament to what we can accomplish when we all work together.

‘It has provided us the framework for how we will move forward as we explore beyond our home planet, not as explorers from any one country, but as explorers from planet Earth.’

Nasa says it is confident the habitat is safe to stay in orbit until 2028, and possibly much longer.

ISS

The Expedition One crew members are about to eat fresh fruit onboard the Zvezda Service Module of the Earth-orbiting International Space Station

Photographers capture the liftoff of the Soyuz-FG

Photographers capture the liftoff of the Soyuz-FG rocket booster with the Soyuz TMA-11M spaceship carrying new crew members to the International Space Station from the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan

 

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what a waste of money

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15 years and it's achieved zip - I guess that is an achievement in itself

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Techvedic: 15 years of success with 1,500 scientific studies is great! Happy birthday ISS. No doubt, it is a big achievement.

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Courageous men and women all that have served on the station. As a child of the 60s I do feel let down though that we're not farther afield with bases on the moon and a manned flight to Mars. I do so hope that we'll have before I pass, at least a station that is more than a bunch of soap cans stitched together. We can do better and need to do soon.

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I can't understand myself. When we were sending men to the moon, our TV's were made from light bulbs. We haven't gone back with the technology that as advanced so much since those infant days of modern electronics.

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Mad Steve - It's mainly due to our rocket systems we've had in place since the end of the Apollo program. When the Apollo budget was cut, production stopped on the massive rocket system designed to actually get out of Earth's orbit. The Space Shuttle, was designed only for orbital flight. Not that the space shuttle orbiter couldn't handle a trip to the moon or theoretically Mars, it could, but the rocket system was only designed to get up into space, do some light maneuvering, and get back home - no more. To make the trip, either the space-delivery rocket system would have to be redesigned from the ground up, or the shuttle would need to retain it's bulky fuel tank into orbit, and get refueled before continuing on to the moon. A shuttle-based lunar excursion lander would also need to be developed, and to make matters more difficult, once home from the moon, the shuttle would need to slow down, and it's much more efficient to do that with a small capsule than a big shuttle.

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Huge waste of money! WE NEED A MOONBASE BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE WAY COOLER!

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Hey, let's al before we run. But let's walk quickly! :)

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I've grown up watching the construction of the ISS since it was first launched into orbit. It made me crave a flight to space with every construction mission. It was the finest moment for the space shuttle programme when it ended with the last delivery in 2011. Now we are seeing a permanent human presence in space all year round.

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umm USSR and the US space Station ,Mir and Skylab, had a permanent presence in space for years before this, try to open a history book once in a while

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In the same time at the same or less expense a solar system manned spaceship could have been built.Next stop Jupiter Scotty.

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Uh, no. It would need an earth orbit station even to be assembled.

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Congratulations to all of the engineers, support crew, and astro-nauts!!

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Many happy returns - up to sixteen a day. It was nice to see the pre-assembled modules under construction at the Kennedy Space Centre and ti's nice to see them again on a regular basis as they pass overhead. Long may they survive any American attempts to cut their funding as the ten trillion pound US debt mountain starts to bite.

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Happy Birthday ISS!

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