International Space Station

The International Space Station (ISS) is a habitable artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. It is a joint project among several space agencies, including NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada). The ISS serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory where scientific research is conducted in astrobiology, astronomy, meteorology, physics, and other fields. The station is divided into pressurized modules, external trusses, solar arrays, and other components. It is the largest single structure humans have ever put into space and can often be seen with the naked eye from Earth. The ISS maintains an orbit with an average altitude of approximately 400 kilometers (250 miles) and travels at about 27,744 kilometers per hour (17,240 miles per hour), completing 15.5 orbits per day. The station has been continuously occupied since November 2, 2000. In Hebrew, the ISS is known as תחנת החלל הבינלאומית. In Russian, it is called Международная космическая станция (Mezhdunarodnaya kosmicheskaya stantsiya), and in Japanese, it is referred to as 国際宇宙ステーション (Kokusai uchū sutēshon).