International Space Station
The International Space Station was a multi-national space station, and one of Earth's first internationally combined efforts in exploring space.
It had a maximum / average crew of seven, was first launched in 1998, and served as an international treasure and monument.
The ISS program evolved from a 1984 idea from NASA to construct a permanently manned Earth-orbiting station. Together with the Russian, Japanese, and European Space Agency space stations, independent nations' oribal units were merged to created the International Space Station. It maintained an orbit with an average altitude of 400 kilometers (250 miles), and circled the Earth in roughly 93 minutes, completing 15.5 orbits per day.
It had in service a microgravity and space environment research laboratory, in which scientific research was conducted in astrobiology, astronomy, meteorology, physics, and other fields.
