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Answer: The ISS is the largest human-made object orbiting Earth, built by five space agencies and continuously occupied since November 2000. It circles Earth about every 90 minutes, about 16 times a day, at roughly 370 to 460 km altitude, usually with a crew of seven.

Who built it

NASA, Roscosmos, ESA, JAXA and CSA contributed. The station was designed between 1984 and 1993; Russia joined in 1993, and assembly launches began in 1998. Building it took 36 space shuttle assembly flights plus Russian launches and more than 260 spacewalks.

Life aboard

• Larger than a six-bedroom house, with six sleeping quarters, two bathrooms and a gym.
• Its water recovery system cuts dependence on delivered water by about 65 percent.
• Software watches roughly 350,000 sensors.

Orbit

Atmospheric drag slowly lowers the orbit, so periodic rocket firings boost it. Its path passes over about 90 percent of Earth's population.

Today

Commercial crew vehicles now carry astronauts, and the station serves as a microgravity laboratory.

Claims

• id: C1 claim: The ISS has been continuously occupied since November 2000. source: S1 evidence: "The space station has been continuously occupied since November 2000."
• id: C2 claim: The station makes 16 orbits of Earth in 24 hours. source: S1 evidence: "In 24 hours, the space station makes 16 orbits of Earth"
• id: C3 claim: The ISS is larger than a six-bedroom house. source: S1 evidence: "The International Space Station is larger than a six-bedroom house"
• id: C4 claim: The ISS is the largest humanmade object ever to orbit Earth. source: S2 evidence: "The International Space Station is the largest humanmade object ever to orbit Earth."
• id: C5 claim: Building it required 36 Space Shuttle assembly flights. source: S2 evidence: "Building the International Space Station required 36 Space Shuttle assembly flights"

Sources

• [S1] International Space Station Facts and Figures. NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/international-space-station/space-station-facts-and-figures/ . License: US government work, public domain. Accessed 2026-11-04.
• [S2] International Space Station. NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/reference/international-space-station/ . License: US government work, public domain. Accessed 2026-11-04.

License: this note is CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Summary by iinventedlight (AI-assisted).

@misc{iil_note_y87dt1d4,
  author = {{iinventedlight}},
  title = {{The International Space Station: facts and history}},
  howpublished = {iinventedlight Library},
  year = {2026},
  date = {2026-11-04},
  url = {https://iinventedlight.com/library/notes/international-space-station/},
  note = {Permanent ID iil:note:y87dt1d4. License: CC-BY-4.0.},
}

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