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International Space Station

(ISS)

The international space station from the space shuttle

ISS Fun Facts

International Space Station's 20th anniversary - the 1st human crew boarded the station on November 2, 2000

SpaceX Crew Dragon new missions to ISS

SpaceX launched the Crew-8 mission on March 3, 2024, from Kennedy Space Center. NASA Astronauts, Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps flew with cosmonaut, Alexander Grebenkin. NASA Astronaut Tracy Caldwell-Dyson is slated to fly on MS-25.

SpaceX launched the Axiom-3 mission (Ax-3) on January 18, 2024. The crew includes Michael López-Alegría as Commander, Walter Villadei as Pilot, Alper Gezeravcı and Marcus Wandt as Mission Specialists. Although scheduled to undock from the ISS on February 6 has been canceled due to bad weather at the Cape.

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 mission launched on August 22, 2023 from Kennedy Space Center carrying NASA astronaut, Jasmin Moghbeli, ESA astronaut, Andreas Mogensen of Denmark, Satoshi Furukawa of JAXA , and Roscosmos cosmonaut, Konstantin Borisov to the ISS. Andreas Mogensen will be the first non-American to serve as pilot of Crew Dragon Endurance. The crew launch took off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A.

Find out about Crew Dragon on this page.

- - Find out more @ Astra's about SpaceX

Soyuz Missions to ISS

Three astronauts are scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on March 21, 2023. Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky, commander and Marina Vasilevskaya, Flight Engineer, and NASA astronaut, Tracy Caldwell-Dyson as Flight Engineer. They are riding to ISS on Russia's Soyuz MS-2t.

Three astronauts were launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on September 15, 2023. Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub, and NASA astronaut, Loral O'Hara reached the ISS on Russia's Soyuz MS-24.

Boeing's Orbital Flight Test-2 successfully launched and returned to Earth in May 2022. The first crewed flight test is scheduled for May 2024. - - Find out more on this page at Astra's

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Roscosmos has been launching cosmonauts and astronauts to the International Space Station since the early days of human presence aboard the station. Find out about these launches at NASA.

Soyuz Launches, Arrivals and Departures

You will also find links to all launches to the ISS from every source and a Soyuz image gallery.

11-member crew on the International Space Station on March 6, 2023
11-member crew on the International Space Station on March 6, 2023.

The 11-member crew aboard the International Space Station give thumbs up signs in this portrait. In the bottom row from left are Flight Engineers Andrey Fedyaev of Roscosmos, Sultan Alneyadi from UAE (United Arab Emirates), and Woody Hoburg from NASA. In the middle row from left are Flight Engineers Anna Kikina from Roscosmos, Koichi Wakata from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), Nicole Mann from NASA, Dmitri Petelin from Roscosmos, and Frank Rubio from NASA. In the back are Flight Engineer Stephen Bowen from NASA, Commander Sergey Prokopyev from Roscosmos, and Flight Engineer Josh Cassada from NASA.

This picture was posted by NASA showing the 11 crewmembers at the ISS in early March. The record for the largest population on the ISS was set in 2009 with 13 people on board. Crewmembers Josh Cassada, Nicole Mann, Anna Kikina, Koichi Wakata returned to Earth on March 11. The rest of the crew listed above will go on to Expedition 69 and remain on the station until October. The space station must seem smaller when the crew is so large.

NASA image ISS068e069112.jpg was downloaded from NASA Johnson's Flickr album March 2023. The caption for this image also comes from NASA.

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International Space Station Pages

Latest Expedition

The latest expedition is #70. Crew includes Andreas Mogensen (ESA), commander of expedition; NASA astronauts, Jasmin Moghbeli, Loral O'Hara; JAXA's Satoshi Furukawa; Roscosmos cosmonauts, Oleg Kononenko, Konstantin Borisov, and Nikolai Chub.

From NASA - Find out who is on the international space station now!

Human Spaceflight and Exploration

Life on the International Space Station - from the Astronauts

Station Science - Laboratory in Space

International Partners

International Space Station Resupply Vessels

Because the ISS has been continually inhabited since November 2, 2000, a constant supply of consumable materials and waste managment is necessary. The ISS is resupplied by various space organizations using spacecraft that operates automously.

Roscosmos Progress spacecraft

Progress over the Earth

The highly-reliable Progress resupply vehicle is an automated spacecraft that is used to bring supplies and fuel to the International Space Station. The Progress can also raise the station's altitude and orientation of the station with its thrusters. This keeps the station in the appropriate orbit to safely orbit the Earth.

Manufactured by the Russian corporation Energia, the Progress can bring supplies for the astronauts or fuel for use by the ISS. Missions are designated for cargo (supplies) or fuel.

The Progress spacecraft is launched to the space station from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on a Soyuz rocket. Progress can stay in orbit for up to six months, and normally undocks shortly before a new one is launched. Progress vehicles have also conducted secondary missions after their cargo resupply flight was complete, including scientific experiments and technical demonstrations in space. they are not re-usable.

- read more at NASA on Progress

ESA Automated Transfer Vehicles (ATV)

ESA Automated transfer vehicle

Five ATVs were launched to resupply the ISS by the Ariane 5 heavy-lift launch vehicles. ESA's ATVs had 3x the capacity of the Russian Progress cargo spacecraft. Operating from March of 2008 until July 2014. The ATVs at the ISS were also used to boost the station into a higher orbit.

The 5 ATVs were named after famous European figures: Jules Verne, Johannes Kepler, Edoardo Amaldi, Albert Einstein, and Georges Lemaitre.

JAXA Kounotori - H-II Transfer Vehicle

JAXA H-II transfer vehicle

The H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) is launched from the Japan's Tanegashima Space Center on an H-IIB launch vehicle. It completed its last resupply mission in May of 2020 and has visited the space station 9 times since 2009. The spacecraft does not dock to the station, instead it is grabbed by the Canadarm2 and it guided to the docking node manually.

- read more at JAXA on- Kuonotori

Cargo Dragon - SpaceX

Spacex's Cargo Dragon

The first Dragon spacecraft launched Dec. 8, 2010 as COTS Demo Flight-1 on a Falcon 9 rocketand was successfully recovered after re-entry through Earth's atmosphere. (In November of the 2010 Federal Aviation Administration issued a its first re-entry license!) SpaceX's Cargo Dragon is the only spacecraft currently capable of returning to Earth with cargo. Like Kounotori, Cargo Dragon is captured by the Canadarm and attached to the space station, so has no docking capability. As of November 2020, the SpaceX cargo Dragon has visited the ISS 22 times.

Cargo Dragon 2, is an updated version of the original Dragon spacecraft capable of docking directly to the station. The first resupply mission that Cargo Dragon 2 flew was Commercial Resupply Services-21 (CRS-21) that performed an automated docking on December 6, 2020 to Node-2/Harmony's zenith docking port. Dragon2 does not have to be attached to the station by the CanadaArm.

As of the update of this page, SpaceX has sent 29 cargo missions to the ISS for resupply.

Check out this NASA blog that covers SpaceX Cargo Dragon Resupply.

Cygnus spacecraft - Northrop Grumman

Northrop Grummond Cygnus supply spacecraft

Northrop Grumman has visited the ISS 20 times since its first mission in 2014. Like some other supply vessels, it is captured by the robotic arm and then attached to the ISS. Cygnus is launched on Northrop Grumman's Antares rocket. On August 2, 2023, the NG-19 resupply flight launched from Wallops Island. Mission NG-19 was named Laurel Clark after the astronaut who died on the Columbia space shuttle. It is the last Cygnus spacecraft to be launched on an Antares rocket, because Russian parts can no longer be used. The latest Cygnus resupply flight was launched on a Falcon 9, using a modified fairing.

Commercial Crew Program

The Commercial Crew Program is a human spaceflight program operated by NASA. Two American aerospace manufacturers, Boeing and SpaceX, are the main corporations involved. This program allows private enterprises to transport crews to and from the International Space Station (ISS). The two spacecraft that have been developed are SpaceX's Crew Dragon and Boeing's CST-100 Starliner. SpaceX has successfully launched NASA astronauts to the station. Boeing continues its development of the Starliner capsule. The Crew Flight Test (CFT) of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner is currently scheduled to launch in April 2023.

NASA's Commercial Crew Program

Commercial Crew Press Kit PDF - Download for detailed information

SpaceX Crew Dragon

Crew Dragon  at Kennedy Space Center

The image of Crew Dragon shows the spacecraft's arrival at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A on November 5, 2020.

SpaceX Crew Dragon missions to ISS

SpaceX Crew-8 mission launched to ISS on March 3, 2023. (See full story above.)

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 mission launched on August 22, 2023 from Kennedy Space Center carrying NASA astronaut, Jasmin Moghbeli, ESA astronaut, Andreas Mogensen of Denmark, Satoshi Furukawa of JAXA , and Roscosmos cosmonaut, Konstantin Borisov to the ISS. Andreas Mogensen will be the first non-American to serve as pilot of Crew Dragon Endurance. The crew launch took off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A.

SpaceX Crew-6 mission launched to ISS on March 2, 2023 from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA astronaut, Commander Stephen Bowen, Pilot Warren "Woody" Hoburg, Mission Specialist UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, and Mission Specialist Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev docked the Crew Dragon spacecraft, Endeavour to the forward port on the Harmony module of ISS.

SpaceX Crew-5 mission was commanded by NASA astronaut Nicole Mann and piloted by Josh Cassada, JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata, and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina who is the first Russian to launch on a Dragon spacecraft. Crew-5 was launched on October 5, 2022 on the Crew Dragon Endurance. The astronauts returned safely to Earth splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico late on March 13, 2023.

SpaceX launched NASA’s Crew-4 mission on a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center on April 27, 2022. The Crew Dragon carried NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Robert Hines, Jessica Watkins and ESA's Samantha Cristoforetti who arrived at ISS on April 27, 2022. SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft returned the Crew-4 astronauts back to Earth on October 14, 2022.

SpaceX launched 4 civilian commercial astronauts on the Axiom-1 mission from the Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center on March 30, 2022. The Axiom crew will conducted science, outreach, and commercial activities for eight days on orbit. This mission is the initial in-space startup for the Axiom commercial space station. Current plans for a second mission (Ax-2) call for a launch sometime between Fall 2022 and Spring 2023.

Find out more about the Ax-1 mission at Astras.

SpaceX launched NASA’s Crew-3 mission on a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center on November 9, 2021. The Crew Dragon carried NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, and Kayla Barron, and European Space Agency astronaut Matthias Maurer to the International Space Station.

SpaceX Crew-2 mission launched NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, Akihiko Hoshide (JAXA), and Thomas Pesquet (ESA) astronauts to the space station on April 23, 2021. Megan McArthur is the first female pilot of the Crew Dragon. Megan is married to NASA astronaut Bob Behnken, who flew to ISS in the same Crew Dragon capsule less than a year ago.

The second launch of Crew Dragon blasted off for the ISS on November 14, 2020 carrying NASA astronautsVictor Glover, Michael Hopkins, Shannon Walker and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi to join with the three astronauts already on the ISS in Expedition #64. This brought the total of Astronauts on the space station to 7, the maximum number ever on a full expedition.

The "extra" astronaut was possible because the Crew Dragon spacecraft remained at the station to provide a return trip for 4 astronauts. Previously, two Soyuz spacecraft could be docked at the ISS and they only carry 3 astronauts. Astronauts are not left on the ISS without an escape vehicle for safety reasons. Another SpaceX "first" for this mission was that the vessel docked to the ISS without assistance from the CanadArm2.

On May 2, 2021 at 2:56 a.m. Crew Dragon splashed down by parachute, landing in the Gulf of Mexico near Panama City, FL. This was the first night splashdown from space since Apollo 8 returned in December 1968.

SpaceX Crew-1

Crew Dragon spacecraft on the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as it is rolled out to Launch Complex 39A for the Crew-1 mission

The Crew Dragon spacecraft on the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket being rolled out to Launch Complex 39A for the Crew-1 mission.

SpaceX Demo-2 successfully launched astronauts to the space station and returned them to Earth!

Falcon 9 launched from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 30, 2020 at 1:29 am EDT. It was Crew Dragon's second demonstration mission as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurleyare the first two NASA astronauts to fly onboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station. The two astronauts returned safely on Earth on August 2, 2020.

This was the first human spaceflight launched from U.S.A. soil since the Space Shuttle retired in 2011!

What is is like to travel to the ISS and back on SpaceX's Crew Dragon? Join Felix Schlang and What About It? on your own special trip to the station on Crew Dragon. Join the crew on this YouTube video!

Unveiling the Secrets: Ride Inside SpaceX's Mind-Blowing Crew Dragon!

- - Find out more @ Astra's about Crew Dragon

Boeing Starliner

Starliner  at Kennedy Space Center
Testing Starliner at NASA KSC

Boeing's Starliner is the second commercial crew launch vehicle that was approved by NASA. It was designed to accommodate 7 passengers, or crew and cargo for missions to low-Earth orbit.

Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test to the ISS is known as Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2). This test was to prove the system was ready to fly with human crew aboard. In August 2021, issues in the propulsion system caused the vehicle to be removed from the launchpad and repaired before the OFT-2 test could be undertaken.

Starliner's OFT-2 launched on May 19, 2022, carrying Rosie the Rocketeer test dummy and successfully docking with ISS on May 22. It rode on an United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Kennedy,FL. Starliner returned to Earth on May 25, landing successfully. The first crewed flight of Starliner is scheduled for no earlier than July 21, 2023.

Starliner’s first crewed mission is part of a series of demonstration missions required for NASA to certify that Starliner is qualified to carry astronauts to and from the International Space Station. Astronauts have been selected for NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test that will be scheduled after a successful uncrewed flight. NASA astronauts Mike Fincke, Nicole Mann, and Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson have been selected for the inaugural crewed flight of the Starliner.

- - Read more about Boeing and Starliner on Astra's Commercial Space page

Online Videos for ISS

In 2020 there must be hundreds of ISS videos out there. Try NASA's video gallery

Interactive Learning for ISS

ISS Expedition XXX - 30th Crew aboard the International Space Station

Launched Wednesday, December 21, 2011

ISS image taken during Space Shuttle on mission STS-113

The image of the International Space Station above was taken from the Space Shuttle on mission STS-113, the appearence of the station from December 2002 until September 2006. The image at the top of this page was taken by the crew of Discovery on STS-133 when it departed the station in March 2011. These and other images of the space station are available at NASA, and can be reached by clicking on this link:

International Space Station Photo Gallery this will take you to the page that contains the NASA image gallery showing the progress of ISS as it was and is being built.

Last update: 03/21/2024

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