OtterKnow Kids EncyclopediaThe International Space Station, or ISS, is a huge spacecraft that flies around Earth! Astronauts from many different countries live and work there. It is like a house and a science lab floating in space, about 250 miles above us.
Countries from all around the world worked together to build the ISS piece by piece, starting in 1998. Space Shuttles and rockets brought up the pieces, and astronauts put them together during spacewalks. Since the year 2000, there have always been people living on the station. Astronauts do science experiments, study how the body works in space, and even grow plants!
- You can sometimes see the ISS flying across the night sky.
- It looks like a bright, fast-moving star!
- The ISS is as big as a football field.
- It travels at about 17,500 miles per hour and goes around Earth every 90 minutes!
