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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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For up to date mission information and news visit: ISS In SPACE | |
| 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
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| 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. |
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