Why is it called the INTERNATIONAL Space Station?
The United States has four international partners:
What is it like to live on the ISS? Great article with links to cool things.
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Fun Station Facts
• The International Space Station (ISS) is the size of an American football field with the end zones included . • The ISS orbits between 250 and 300 miles above Earth’s surface at a speed of 17,500 mph. • Astronauts see 16 sunrises and sunsets a day as the ISS orbits Earth once every 90 minutes . • The first piece of the ISS went up in 1998. • A crew has continuously lived on board since the year 2000. • Amazingly, the ISS appears as the third-brightest object in our sky after the Sun and Moon. • There are two toilets on the Station, one Russian and one American. • Each crew that arrives on the ISS rings a nautical bell when it boards and adds its mission patch sticker to the collection . |
You can spot the ISS from your home. Go to THIS website and enter your city to learn the dates and times it will pass overhead. This is what it should like like as your view it from Earth (see video below).