The ISS was originally intended to be a laboratory, observatory, and factory while providing transportation, maintenance, and a low Earth orbit staging base for possible future missions to the Moon, Mars, and asteroids. However, not all

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Manufacturing
Since the International Space Station is a multi-national collaborative project, the components for in-orbit assembly were manufactured in various countries around the world. Beginning in the mid 1990s, the U.S. components

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The ISS is a modular space station. Modular stations can allow modules to be added to or removed from the existing structure, allowing greater

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Expeditions
Each permanent crew is given an expedition number. Expeditions run up to six months, from launch until undocking, an 'increment' covers the same time period, but includes cargo spacecraft and all activities. Expeditions 1

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Crew activities
A typical day for the crew begins with a wake-up at 06:00, followed by post-sleep activities and a morning inspection of the station. The crew then

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Altitude and orbital inclination
The ISS is currently maintained in a nearly circular orbit with a minimum mean altitude of 370 km (230 mi) and a maximum of 460 km (290 mi), in the centre of the thermosphere, at an inclination of

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Life support
The critical systems are the atmosphere control system, the water supply system, the food supply facilities,

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