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International Space Station |
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International Space Station.
Would you like to see happening at the moment the International Space Station?
The following image is updated every 15 seconds and shows the place where the ISS.
ISS (International Space Station (ISS), is a joint project of five space agencies: NASA (United States), the Russian Federal Space Agency (Russia), the Japanese Space Exploration Agency (Japan), the Canadian Space Agency (Canada) and the European Space Agency (ESA). The Brazilian Space Agency (Brazil) participates through a separate contract with NASA. The Italian Space Agency similarly has separate contracts for various activities not done in the context of the work of ESA in the ISS (where Italy also fully participates). The space station is in orbit around the Earth at an altitude of approximately 360 kms (225 miles), a type of LEO (the actual height varies over time for several kilometers due to atmospheric friction and repeated propulsion). Gives an orbit around the Earth in a period of about 92 minutes, before june 2005 had completed more than 37,500 orbits since the launch of the Zarya module on November 20, 1998.
In many ways the ISS represents a merger of the previously planned space stations: MIR 2 from Russia, the American Space Station, Freedom, the planned European Columbus Module and the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM). Thanks to the ISS, there is a permanent human presence in space, as has always been at least two people aboard the ISS since the first permanent team entered the ISS on November 2, 2000. The station is maintained primarily by the Soyuz spacecraft and Progress space shuttle. The ISS is currently still under construction with a projected completion date in 2010. Currently, the station has a capacity for a crew of three astronauts.
Before it reached the german astronaut Thomas Reiter of the ESA that binds to the Expedition 13 team on July 2006, all permanent astronauts have been Russian or American side. The ISS, however, has been visited by astronauts from twelve countries and has also been the destination of the first four space tourists.
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International Space Station 
