22 Interesting Facts About International Space Station

The International Space Station (ISS) is a research facility in Low Earth Orbit. The station’s construction began in 1998 and was completed in the year 2011. Expedition 1 was the station’s first resident crew which arrived on November 2, 2000. It has been continuously staffed since then. So, for the last 20 years, there has been a constant human presence in space. At the moment, the station can accommodate a crew of three to six people.

1. The International Space Station is as roomy as a five-bedroom house or two Boeing 747 jetliners.
2. The first component of the ISS was launched on November 20, 1998.
3. The first component of the ISS was launched on November 20, 1998.
4. The ISS consists of Canada, Japan, Russia, United States, and eleven Member States of the European Space Agency (Belgium, France, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom).
5. The ISS orbits the earth at 7 kilometers per hour or is around 15,500 miles per hour.
6. The cost incurred to make the international space state 150 billion USD.
7. The weight of the entire international space station is about 420,000 kilogram (925,000 pounds) which is equivalent to 330 automobiles. It will measure 74 meters (243 feet) long and 110 meters (361 feet) wide.
8. The International Space Station can be seen orbiting the earth with the naked eye! The best time to look for it is after sunset, and it will look like a moving star.
9. On the International Space Station, all waste from the lavatories is stored in a supply craft called The Progress. The craft is eventually released and burns away in the earth’s atmosphere.
10. In 2020 Nasa sent the New $23 Million Space Toilet to the International Space Station.
11. Each astronaut has their own personal urine funnel, which they attach to the space station toilet.
12. The International Space Station is equipped with huge solar panels, and all its power comes from the Sun.
13. The four sets of arrays of solar panels can generate 84 to 120 kilowatts of electricity — enough to provide power to more than 40 homes. Electricity is measured in units of power called watts.
14. The International Space Station is the single most expensive object ever built.
15. The ISS maintains an altitude of 400 kilometers and completes one orbit of earth in approx. 93 minutes. In one day, the Iss completes 15.5 orbit circles of the earth.
16. During its lifetime, the International Space Station will be hit by 100,000 meteoroids.
17. On May 16, 2016, the international space station completed the 100,000th orbit of the earth.
18. During its 1 lakh orbits, the ISS has traveled more than 2.64 billion miles (4.25 billion km) — the rough equivalent of 10 roundtrips to Mars missions and nearly the distance to Neptune from earth.
19. As of Nov 2020, there were seven crew members on the international space station.
20. Till 2020 241 individuals have made 396 spaceflights to the ISS.
21. Over 3 billion to 4 billion USD cost is incurred by NASA for the upkeep of ISS.
22. The food menu on the International Space Station (ISS) includes more than a hundred items – from vegetables and fruit to pre-prepared meals and desserts.