International Space Station (ISS)

Multi-Purpose international station for the space investigation.
Although the United States, through NASA, leads the ISS project, 15 other countries are involved in building and operating various parts of the station: Russia, Canada, Japan, Brazil, and 11 member nations of ESA (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom).

ISS Pressurised modules at 2020

Zarya (“Dawn”) control module

A 21-ton, 12.5-m-long, 4.1-m-wide module, equipped with solar arrays and six nickel-cadmium batteries capable of generating an average of 3 kW of power, that provided early propulsion, power, fuel storage, and communication, and served as the rendezvous and docking port for Zvezda. Zarya’s construction was funded by NASA and undertaken in Moscow by Boeing and the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center. Following its launch, it was put through a series of tests before being commanded to fire its two large engines to climb to a circular orbit 386 km high. The module’s engines and 36 steering jets have a six-ton reservoir of propellant to enable altitude and orientation changes. Its side docking ports are used by Russia’s Soyuz piloted spacecraft and Progress remotely-controlled supply vehicles. As assembly progressed, Zarya’s roles were assumed by other Station elements and it is now used primarily as a passageway, docking port and fuel storage site.

Unity. Connecting module

The first American pressurized module of the ISS. Built at Marshall Space Flight Center, Unity provides six attachment ports, one on each of its sides, to which all future American modules will join. With two mating adaptors attached, it has a mass of 11,500 kg, a length of 10 m, and a diameter of 4.6 m.

Zvezda service module

The first fully Russian contribution to the ISS and the early cornerstone for human habitation of the station. The 19-ton, 13.1-m-long Zvezda, provided the first living quarters aboard the station, together with electrical power distribution, data processing, flight control, and propulsion systems. It also has a communications system enabling remote command from ground controllers. Although many of its systems will eventually be supplemented or superceded by American components, Zvezda will remain the structural and functional center of the Russian segment of the ISS.

Destiny, laboratory module

America’s main workstation for carrying out experiments aboard the ISS. The 16.7-m-long, 4.3-m-wide, 14.5-ton Destiny will support research in life sciences, microgravity, Earth resources, and space science. It consists of three cylindrical sections and two end-cones. Each end-cone contains a hatch through which crewmembers will enter and exit the lab. There are 24 racks inside the module, 13 dedicated to various experiments, including the Gravitational Biology Facility, and 11 used to supply power, cool water, and provide environmental control.

Quest

The Quest Joint Airlock, previously known as the Joint Airlock Module, is the primary airlock for the ISS. Quest was designed to host spacewalks with both Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) spacesuits and Orlan space suits. The airlock was launched on STS-104 on July 14, 2001.

Pirs and Poisk

Pirs ('Pier') and Poisk ('Search') are Russian airlock modules, each having two identical hatches. An outward-opening hatch on the Mir space station failed after it swung open too fast after unlatching, because of a small amount of air pressure remaining in the airlock. All EVA hatches on the ISS open inwards and are pressure-sealing. Pirs was launched on 14 September 2001 and Poisk was launched on 10 November 2009.

Harmony

Harmony, also known as Node 2, is the "utility hub" of the ISS. It connects the laboratory modules of the United States, Europe and Japan, as well as providing electrical power and electronic data. Sleeping cabins for four of the crew are housed here. Harmony was successfully launched into space aboard Space Shuttle flight STS-120 on October 23, 2007

Tranquility

Tranquility, also known as Node 3, is a module of the ISS. It contains environmental control systems, life support systems, a toilet, exercise equipment, and an observation cupola. The European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency had Tranquility manufactured by Thales Alenia Space, and was launched on February 8, 2010, on the Space Shuttle's STS-130 mission.

Columbus

Columbus is a science laboratory that is part of the ISS and is the largest single contribution to the station made by the European Space Agency and was constructed in Turin, Italy by Thales Alenia Space. The module is controlled by the Columbus Control Centre, located at the German Space Operations Center, part of the German Aerospace Center. It was launched aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis on February 7, 2008, on flight STS-122.

Kibō

The Japanese Experiment Module (JEM), nicknamed Kibō (“Hope”), is a Japanese science module for the International Space Station (ISS) developed by JAXA. It is the largest single ISS module, and is attached to the Harmony module. The first two pieces of the module were launched on Space Shuttle mission’s STS-123 and STS-124. The third and final components were launched on STS-127. From March 2008 to July 2009.

Cupola

The Cupola is an ESA-built observatory module of the ISS. Its name derives from the Italian word cupola, which means "dome". Its seven windows are used to conduct experiments, dockings and observations of Earth. It was launched aboard Space Shuttle mission STS-130 on 8 February 2010 and attached to the Tranquility (Node 3) module. With the Cupola attached, ISS assembly reached 85 percent completion. The Cupola's central window has a diameter of 80 cm (31 in).

Rassvet

Rassvet ("dawn"), also known as the Mini-Research Module 1 (MRM-1) is a Russian contribution to the ISS. The module's design is similar to the Mir Docking Module launched on STS-74 in 1995. Rassvet is primarily used for cargo storage and as a docking port for visiting spacecraft. It was flown to the ISS aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis on the STS-132 mission on 14 May 2010.

Leonardo

The Leonardo Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) is a module of the International Space Station. It was flown into space aboard the Space Shuttle on STS-133 on 24 February 2011 and installed on 1 March. Leonardo is primarily used for storage of spares, supplies and waste on the ISS, which was until then stored in many different places within the space station. It is also the personal hygiene area for the astronauts who live in the US Orbital Segment.

Bigelow Expandable Activity Module

The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) is an experimental expandable space station module developed by Bigelow Aerospace, under contract to NASA, for testing as a temporary module on the International Space Station (ISS) from 2016 to at least 2020. It arrived at the ISS on April 10, 2016.

International Docking Adapter

The International Docking Adapter (IDA) is a spacecraft docking system adapter developed to convert APAS-95 to the NASA Docking System (NDS). An IDA is placed on each of the ISS's two open Pressurized Mating Adapters (PMAs), both of which are connected to the Harmony module.

Bishop Airlock Module

The NanoRacks Bishop Airlock Module is a commercially funded airlock module launched to the ISS on SpaceX CRS-21 on 6 December 2020. The module was built by NanoRacks, Thales Alenia Space, and Boeing. It will be used to deploy CubeSats, small satellites, and other external payloads for NASA, CASIS, and other commercial and governmental customers.

ISS in 2010

Information from: David Darling's encyclopedia and Wikipedia