The International Space Station is a football-field-sized laboratory orbiting about 250 miles up, circling Earth every 90 minutes at 17,500 mph. Built and operated by the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada, it has hosted people without interruption for over two decades, the longest continuous human presence off the planet.
Crews of about seven conduct thousands of experiments in microgravity, from growing organs-on-chips to studying how the human body handles long spaceflight. Astronauts rotate up on SpaceX Dragon and Soyuz spacecraft, with cargo arriving on commercial resupply flights.
Nearly everything NASA knows about keeping humans alive in space for months at a time was learned on the ISS. That knowledge is the foundation for Artemis lunar stays and eventual Mars trips. It is also where commercial spaceflight grew up: the companies now flying crews cut their teeth on station contracts.
Key Facts
- Continuously crewed since
- November 2, 2000
- Orbit
- About 250 miles up, 17,500 mph, 16 orbits per day
- Crew
- Typically 7
- Partners
- NASA, Roscosmos, ESA, JAXA, CSA
- Size
- About the length of a football field, 420 tons
Timeline
November 1998
First module, Zarya, launches
November 2000
Expedition 1 begins continuous habitation
May 2020
First commercial crew flight, SpaceX Demo-2
Next up
Operations planned through 2030, then commercial successors
Latest International Space Station News

Soyuz MS-28 departs the ISS, three spacewalks install upgrades to solar arrays and antennae
Following the departure of the Soyuz MS-28 crewed spacecraft from the International Space Station on… The post Soyuz MS-28 departs the ISS, three spacewalks install upgrades to solar arrays and antennae appeared first on
International Space Station

NASA Sets Spacewalk for Station Maintenance, Live Coverage Planned
NASA will provide coverage as two astronauts step outside the International Space Station on Tuesday, Sept. 1, to replace a spacecraft navigational aid and complete several maintenance tasks in support of space station o
International Space Station

Second spacewalk completed for Sophie Adenot
ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot and NASA astronaut Anil Menon successfully completed US EVA-98 at 20:57 CEST on Tuesday 25 August. It was Sophie’s second spacewalk, and the 32nd conducted by a European astronaut.
International Space Station

Ukraine Strikes Soyuz Assembly Line, Raising Questions for Russian Spaceflight
On August 15, 2026, the Ukrainian military attacked the factory used for manufacturing Russia’s Soyuz-2 launch vehicle, causing significant damage to the facility and raising doubts over the vehicle’s future.
International Space Station

Astronauts Anil Menon and Sophie Adenot on Spacewalk
From left, Expedition 75 flight engineers Anil Menon of NASA (partially obscured and wearing the spacesuit with a red stripe on the legs) and Sophie Adenot of ESA (European Space Agency) work together during a six‑hour a
International Space Station

Robotics and the future of on-orbit labor
In this episode, SpaceNews’ Mike Gruss interviews Icarus Robotics CEO and co-founder Ethan Barajas at the 2026 Small Satellite Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. They discuss why astronauts have […] The post Robotics an
International Space Station

NASA Astronaut Reid Wiseman at Freedom 250 Grand Prix
NASA astronaut and Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman is seen in the two-seat IndyCar as he prepares for driver Conor Daly to take him on a lap ahead of the start of the Freedom 250 Grand Prix, Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026, in W
Artemis
International Space Station

The Fuel for the Next Generation of Cislunar Exploration? Technology and Talent.
After NASA astronauts landed on the moon in 1969, their achievement bore decades’ worth of fruit, including scientific discoveries and a strategic national security advantage. Now — with plans to […] The post The Fuel fo
International Space Station

Watch Sophie Adenot’s second spacewalk live
After a successful EVA-97 on Tuesday 18 August, watch ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot venture into the vacuum of space for the second time on Tuesday 25 August, during EVA-98.
International Space Station

The View from Above: The Gemini Visual Acuity Experiments
NASA astronaut L. Gordon Cooper, Jr. took 29 color photographs of the Earth with a 70mm camera as he orbited our planet during the Mercury-Atlas 9 mission in May 1963. Cooper’s view from the window of his Faith 7 spacecr
International Space Station

Behind the Lens: Meet NASA Johnson’s Photographers
Photographers at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston have documented some of the most defining moments in human spaceflight. From astronaut training and engineering tests to mission control operations and milestone c
International Space Station

Building the Moon Base: NASA Stories at the Ion
As NASA prepares to return astronauts to the lunar surface for longer stays and increasingly complex operations, building the Moon Base will require new ideas, advanced technologies, and expertise across many fields. Du
International Space Station

NASA Shares Station Research Today Supporting Moon, Mars Tomorrow
The International Space Station has been busy throughout 2026, as it continues to be a bustling workspace for astronauts conducting a variety of scientific experiments that lay the groundwork for missions to the Moon and
International Space Station

NASA’s Lunar Development and Test Facility Prepares Artemis Hardware for Moon
Before astronauts return to the Moon’s surface through NASA’s Artemis program, the hardware they depend on must first prove it can survive the unforgiving lunar environment. At NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, eng
Artemis
International Space Station

Blue Origin identifies engine issue behind New Glenn explosion
The Aug. 5 update from Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp offered the first explanation for what caused the company’s 98-meter-tall (320 ft.) to explode at the pad on May 28.
International Space Station
New Glenn

Taking Flight to Prepare for Space
NASA astronaut Adam Fuhrmann (right, in yellow) prepares for a training flight aboard NASA’s WB-57 aircraft in this July 16, 2026, photo. These high-altitude flights train the crew to work in a tight environment and oper
International Space Station

NASA and Roscosmos continue seat barter agreement
NASA and Roscosmos have agreed to continue exchanging seats between Soyuz and Crew Dragon spacecraft, but that agreement does not yet extend to Starliner. The post NASA and Roscosmos continue seat barter agreement appear
International Space Station
Commercial Crew

Advanced Mini-laboratories Automate Space Station Research
The International Space Station hosts hundreds of science experiments at a time. Some experiments can take hours to perform, and researchers need to account for astronauts’ limited time. Fully automated devices, like Red
International Space Station

Voyager seeks relaxed requirements in NASA commercial space station RFP
Voyager Technologies remains upbeat about the prospects for its Starlab commercial space station but is hoping for some tweaks to NASA’s plans to support the station’s development. The post Voyager seeks relaxed requirem
International Space Station
Voyager 1 and 2

Crew-13 pilot reflects on career, training, and upcoming science ahead of flight to ISS
After a previously targeted launch date in November, NASA has moved up the next International… The post Crew-13 pilot reflects on career, training, and upcoming science ahead of flight to ISS appeared first on NASASpaceF
International Space Station
Commercial Crew

Future of Crew Dragon weighs on commercial spaceflight industry
While SpaceX says there is a “significant” amount of life left in its Crew Dragon fleet, the company has hedged on how long it will continue flying the spacecraft. The post Future of Crew Dragon weighs on commercial spac
International Space Station
Commercial Crew

ESA Astronaut Completes Third Test of EuroSuit Prototype Aboard ISS
ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot has completed a third and likely final test of EuroSuit, a European intravehicular activity (IVA) spacesuit prototype, aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The suit was developed unde
International Space Station

SpaceX Replacing MRAPs with Cybertrucks Beginning with Crew-13
NASA and SpaceX are getting ready to launch Crew-13 to the International Space Station in September. For the first time, if an emergency occurs on the launch pad and the […]
International Space Station
Commercial Crew

Ike Theriot Helps Prepare Astronauts to Work on the Moon
From serving in the U.S. Army to helping prepare astronauts to explore the lunar surface, Ike Theriot built a path to NASA through discipline and determination. Theriot serves as the Flight Operations Surface Testing le
International Space Station
Facts last reviewed 2026-07-11. Official mission page: nasa.gov
