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 International Space Station (ISS)

The first proposal for a manned station occurred in 1869, when an American novelist told the story of how a "Brick Moon" came to orbit Earth to help ships navigate at sea. In 1923, Romanian Hermann Oberth was the first to use the term "space station" to describe a wheel-like facility that would serve as the jumping off place for human journeys to the moon and Mars. In 1952, Dr. Werner von Braun published his concept of a space station in Collier's magazine. He envisioned a
space station that would have a diameter of 250 feet, orbit more than 1,000 miles above the Earth, and spin to provide artificial gravity through centrifugal force.

The Soviet Union launched the world's first space station, Salyut 1, in 1971 - a decade after launching the first human into space. The United States sent its first space station, the larger Skylab, into orbit in 1973 and it hosted three crews before it was abandoned in 1974. Russia continued to focus on long-duration space missions and in 1986 launched the first modules of the Mir space station.

In 1998, the first two modules of the International Space Station were launched and joined together in orbit. Other modules soon followed and the first crew arrived in 2000.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 ISS Expedition 1

ISS Expedition 1 - Mission Overview

 

 

Vehicle: Russian Soyuz Rocket
International Space Station Flight 2R
Launch Pad: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan
Launch: Oct. 31, 2000
Docking: Nov. 2, 2000
Undocking: March 18, 2001
STS-102
Increment Duration: 136 days, 17 hours, 9 minutes
Landing: March 21, 2001
ISS Flight 5A.1

 

 

Image above: Expedition 1 crew: From the left are Flight Engineer Sergei Krikalev, Expedition One Commander Bill Shepherd and Soyuz Commander Yuri Gidzenko. Photo Credit: NASA

 ISS Expedition 2

ISS Expedition 2 - Mission Overview

 

 

Vehicle: Space Shuttle Discovery
International Space Station Flight 5A.1
Launch Pad: 39B
Launch: March 8, 2001
Docking: March 10, 2001
Undocking: Aug. 20, 2001
STS-105
Increment Duration: 147 days, 16 hours, 43 minutes
Landing: Aug. 22, 2001
ISS Assembly Flight 7A.1

 


Image above: Expedition 2 crew: From the left are Flight Engineer James Voss, Commander Yury Usachev and Flight Engineer Susan Helms. Photo credit: NASA

 ISS Expedition 3

ISS Expedition 3 - Mission Overview

 


Vehicle: Space Shuttle Discovery
International Space Station Flight 7A.1
Launch Pad: 39A
EVAs: 4
Launch: Aug. 10, 2001
Docking: Aug. 12, 2001
Undocking: Dec. 15, 2001
STS-108
Increment Duration: 117 days, 02 hours, 56 minutes
Landing: Dec. 17, 2001
ISS Assembly Flight UF-1

 


Image above: Expedition 3 crew: Astronaut Frank L. Culbertson, Jr. (center), commander, is flanked by Cosmonauts Mikhail Tyurin (left), flight engineer, and Vladimir Dezhurov, Soyuz commander, representing Rosaviakosmos. Photo credit: NASA.

  ISS Expedition 4

ISS Expedition 4 - Mission Overview

 


Vehicle: Space Shuttle Endeavour
International Space Station Flight UF-1
Launch Pad: 39B
EVAs: 3
Launch: Dec. 5, 2001
Docking: Dec. 7, 2001
Undocking: June 15, 2002
STS-111
Increment Duration: 181 days, 0 hours, 44 minutes
Landing: June 19, 2002
ISS Assembly Flight UF-2

 

 

Expedition 4 Commander Yury I. Onufrienko (standing at center), flanked by Flight Engineers Daniel W. Bursch (left) and Carl E. Walz. Photo credit: NASA

  ISS Expedition 5

ISS Expedition 5 - Mission Overview

 


Vehicle: Space Shuttle Endeavour
International Space Station Flight UF-2
Launch Pad: 39A
EVAs: 2
Launch: June 5, 2002
Docking: June 7, 2002
Undocking: Dec. 2, 2002
STS-113
Increment Duration: 171 days, 3 hours, 33 minutes
Landing: Dec. 7, 2002
ISS Flight 11A

 


Image above: Expedition Five Commander Valery Korzun, left, and Flight Engineers Peggy Whitson and Sergei Treschev. Photo credit: NASA

  ISS Expedition 6

ISS Expedition 6 - Mission Overview

 

 

Vehicle: Space Shuttle Endeavour
ISS Assembly Flight 11A
LaunchPad: 39A
EVAs: 2
Launch: Nov. 23, 2002
Docking: Nov. 25, 2002
Undocking: May 3, 2003
Landing: May 3, 2003
Soyuz TMA-1

 

 

Image above: Expedition Six Commander Kenneth Bowersox, center, is flanked by Flight Engineers Donald Pettit, left, and Nikolai Budarin. Photo credit: NASA

  ISS Expedition 7

ISS Expedition 7 - Mission Overview

 


Mission: Expedition 7/Soyuz 6
Vehicle: Soyuz TMA-2
Launch Pad: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan
EVAs: N/A
Launch: April 25, 2003, 10:54 p.m. CDT
Docking: April 28, 2003, 12:56 a.m. CDT
Undocking: Oct. 27, 2003, 5:17 p.m. CST
Landing: Oct. 27, 2003, 8:41 p.m. CST

 


Image above: Expedition 7 Commander Yuri Malenchenko and Flight Engineer Ed Lu. Photo Credit: NASA

  ISS Expedition 8

ISS Expedition 8 - Mission Overview

 

 

 

Mission: Expedition 8 /Soyuz 7
Vehicle: Soyuz TMA-3
Launch Pad: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan
EVAs: 1
Launch: Oct. 18, 2003, 12:38 a.m. CDT
Docking: Oct. 20, 2003, 2:16 a.m. CDT
Undocking: April 29, 2004, 3:52 p.m. CDT
Landing: April 29, 2004, 7:12 p.m. CDT

 

 

Image above: Expedition 8 Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri, left, and Commander Michael Foale. Photo Credit: NASA

  ISS Expedition 9

ISS Expedition 9 - Mission Overview

 

 

Mission: Expedition 9/Soyuz 8
Vehicle: Soyuz TMA-4
Launch Pad: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan
EVAs: 4
Launch: April 18, 2004, 10:19 p.m. CDT
Docking: April 21, 2004, 12:01 a.m. CDT
Undocking: Oct. 23, 2004, 4:08 p.m. CDT
Landing: Oct. 23, 2004, 7:36 p.m. CDT

 


Image above: Expedition 9 Flight Engineer Mike Fincke, left, and Commander Gennady Padalka. Photo Credit: NASA

  ISS Expedition 10

ISS Expedition 10 - Mission Overview

 


Mission: Expedition 10/Soyuz 9
Vehicle: Soyuz TMA-5
Launch Pad: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan
EVAs: 2
Launch: Oct. 13, 2004, 10:06 p.m. CDT
Docking: Oct. 15, 2004, 11:16 p.m. CDT
Undocking: April 24, 2005
Landing: April 24, 2005

 


Image above: Expedition 10 Commander Leroy Chiao, left, and Flight Engineer Salizhan Sharipov. Photo Credit: NASA

  ISS Expedition 11

ISS Expedition 11 - Mission Overeview

 


Launch Vehicle: ISS Soyuz 10 (TMA-6)
Launch: April 14, 2005, 8:46 p.m. EDT
Docking: April 16, 2005, 10:19 p.m. EDT
Spacewalks: Aug. 18, 2005
Undocking: Oct. 10, 2005, 5:49 p.m. EDT
Landing: Oct. 10, 2005, 9:09 p.m. EDT
Time in orbit: 179 days, 23 minutes

 


Image above: Expedition 11 crew, from left, Commander Sergei Krikalev and NASA ISS Science Officer and Flight Engineer John Phillips. Photo Credit: NASA

  ISS Expedition 12

ISS Expedition 12 - Mission Overview

 


Launch Vehicle: ISS Soyuz 11 (TMA-7)
Launch: Sept. 30, 2005, 11:55 p.m. EDT
Docking: Oct. 3, 2005, 1:27 a.m. EDT
Spacewalks: Nov. 7, 2005, Feb. 3, 2006
Undocking: April 8, 2006, 3:28 p.m. EDT
Landing: April 8, 2006, 7:48 p.m. EDT
Time in orbit: 189 days, 19 hours and 53 minutes

 



Image above: From left are Expedition 12 Commander William McArthur and Expedition 12 Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev. Photo Credit: NASA

  ISS Expedition 13

ISS Expedition 13 - Mission Overview

 

 

Launch Vehicle: ISS Soyuz 12 (TMA-8)
Launch: March 29, 2006, 9:30 p.m. EST
Docking: March 31, 2006, 11:19 p.m. EST
Spacewalks: June 1-2, 2006, August 3, 2006
Undocking: Sept. 28, 2006, 5:53 p.m. EDT
Landing: Sept. 28, 2006, 9:13 p.m. EDT
Time in orbit: 182 days, 23 hours and 44 minutes

 


Image above: From left are Expedition 13 Flight Engineer and European Space Agency Astronaut Thomas Reiter, Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer and NASA Science Officer Jeffrey Williams. Reiter joined the Expedition 14 crew on Sept. 20, 2006. Photo credit: Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.

 ISS Expedition 14

ISS Expedition 14 - Mission Overview

 


Launch Vehicle: ISS Soyuz 13 (TMA-9)
Launch: Sept. 18, 2006, 12:09 a.m. EDT
Docking: Sept. 20, 2006, 1:24 a.m. EDT
Spacewalks: Nov. 22, 2006, Jan. 31, 2007,
Feb. 4, 2007, Feb. 8, 2007, Feb. 22, 2007
Landing: April 21, 2007
Time in orbit: 215 days, 8 hours and 23 minutes

 



Image above: The Expedition 14 crew members from left to right are Flight Engineer Sunita Williams, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin. Photo credit: NASA.

  ISS Expedition 15

ISS Expedition 15 - Mission Overview

 



Launch Vehicle: ISS Soyuz 14 (TMA-10)
Launch: April 7, 2007 1:31 p.m. EDT
Docking: April 9, 2007 3:10 p.m. EDT
Spacewalks: May 30, 2007, June 6, 2007
Landing: October 2007

 

 

Image above: Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin (center), Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov (right) and Flight Engineer Clayton Anderson. Photo credit: NASA.

  ISS Expedition 16

ISS Expedition 16 - Mission Overview

 

 

 

Launch Vehicle: ISS Soyuz 15 (TMA-11)

Launch: October 10, 2007 9:22 a.m. EDT

Docking: October 12, 2007 10:50 a.m. EDT

Spacewalks: Nov. 9, 2007, Nov. 20, 2007, Nov. 24, 2007, Dec. 18, 2007, Jan. 30, 2008

Landing: April 19, 2008

Time in orbit: 192 days

 

Image above: The Expedition 16 crew members pose for a portrait at the Johnson Space Center. From the left (front row) are Russia's Federal Space Agency cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, flight engineer and Soyuz commander; astronaut Peggy Whitson, commander; and Malaysian spaceflight participant Sheikh Muzhaphar Shukor. From the left (back row) are European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Léopold Eyharts, astronaut Garrett Reisman and astronaut Dan Tani, all flight engineers. Photo credit: NASA.

 

   ISS Expedition 17

ISS Expedition 17 - Mission Overview

 

 

Launch Vehicle: Soyuz TMA-12

Launch: April 8, 2008 7:16 a.m. EDT

Docking: April 10, 2008

Landing: Oct. 23, 2008

 

 

Image above: NASA astronauts Greg Chamitoff (left), Garrett Reisman, both Expedition 17 flight engineers; Russian Federal Space Agency cosmonauts Sergei Volkov, commander; and Oleg Kononenko, flight engineer, take a break from training at NASA's Johnson Space Center to pose for a portrait. Image credit: NASA

 

   

 

Purchase International Space Station collectables

from our store:

Including NASA space patches/pins/posters/space flown items and other space shuttle and space station collectables

 

 ISS Expedition 18

ISS Expedition 18 - Mission Overview

 

 

 

 

Expedition 18 crewmembers take a break from training at NASA's Johnson Space Center to pose for a group portrait. From the left (front row) are NASA astronaut Michael Fincke and Russian Federal Space Agency cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov, commander and flight engineer, respectively. From the left (back row) are Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata, NASA astronauts Sandra Magnus and Greg Chamitoff, all flight engineers. Chamitoff will launch to the International Space Station (ISS) on the STS-124 mission, joining Expedition 17 in progress and will provide Expedition 18 with an experienced flight engineer for the first part of its increment. Fincke and Lonchakov are scheduled to launch to the station in the Soyuz TMA-13 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in October for a six-month mission. Magnus is scheduled to join Expedition 18, replacing Chamitoff, as flight engineer after launching to the ISS on mission STS-126. Wakata is scheduled to join Expedition 18, replacing Magnus, as flight engineer after launching to the orbital complex on mission STS-119.

 

  ISS Expedition 19

ISS Expedition 19 - Mission Overview

 

 

 

Attired in Russian Sokol launch and entry suits, cosmonaut Gennady Padalka (left), Expedition 19/20 commander, and NASA astronaut Michael Barratt, flight engineer, take a break from training in Star City, Russia to pose for a portrait. Photo credit: Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.