UPDATED* The International Space Station is a partnership of the US, Russian, European, Japanese, and Canadian Space Agencies. The station has been continuously human occupied since Nov 2, 2000. Orbiting 16 times per day at 17,500 miles per hour 250 miles above the ground, it passes over 90% of the world’s surface. When complete in 2010, it will weigh over 800,000 pounds and have a crew of 6 conducting research and preparing the way for future exploration to the moon and beyond.

NEW* Zarya (Russian for Sunrise), also known as the Functional Cargo Block or FGB, was the first element of the International Space Station. Built in Russia under a U.S. contract, Zarya was based on the modules of Mir. During the early stages of ISS assembly, Zarya was self-contained, providing power, communications, and attitude control functions. The module is now used primarily for storage and propulsion.

• More About FGB

NEW* The Quest airlock provides the capability for extravehicular activity (EVA) using the U.S. Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU). The airlock consists of two compartments: the Equipment Lock, which provides the systems and volume for suit maintenance and refurbishment, and the Crew Lock, which provides the actual exit for performing EVAs. The Crew Lock design is based on the Space Shuttle’s airlock design.

• More About Quest

Unity, launched on Dec 4, 1998, was the first U.S.-built element. Unity connects to Destiny, Quest Airlock, and the Russian Operating Segment. Soon Tranquility Node 3/Cupola will be attached. Quest is also shown in this synth.

• More About Nodes

Destiny, weighing about 32,000 pounds without outfitting and about the size of a school bus, can accommodate 24 racks of equipment. The side of Destiny that usually faces Earth contains a large circular window of very high optical quality for earth observing and astronaut photography. Besides research facilities, Destiny also temporarily houses environmental control and life support and habitation equipment.

• Destiny Module
• Reasearch Facilities

Harmony is the hub that connects the U.S., European, and Japanese laboratories. Some of the crew live in Harmony. The docking port at the front of Harmony is used for Shuttle visits.

• Harmony Node

Europe’s Columbus Research Laboratory weighs over 42,000 pounds equipped. It includes both a large pressurized facility where the crew conducts experiments in areas like material science, fluid physics and biosciences and an external facility for mounting experiments exposed to the space environment. Ground control for this laboratory is located at Oberpfaffenhofen near Munich, Germany.

• Columbus Module
• Research Facilities

UPDATED* The Japanese Experiment Module Kibo, meaning “Hope”, is a three part research complex including a large laboratory module weighing over 35,000 pounds equipped, a storage module, and an External Facility for conducting research in the harsh space environment. It also has a robotic arm to handle and transport research payloads between the exposed site and the Kibo airlock. Ground control for Kibo is located at Tsukuba, Japan.

• JEM Module
• Research Facilities