Life of 28,000 km/h in microgravity with cosmic research

The International Space Station (ISS) is a space laboratory that travels around the Earth about 400 kilometers above the surface, which runs at a speed of 28,000 kilometers per hour. Its main goal is to help scientists to understand how our body and health is affected by staying in space. This is important to plan long space trips in the future.

Apart from studying how space affects humans, ISS also helps scientists to learn more about the universe. It carries devices that study powerful space particles, which are small pieces of flying substances through space at a very fast speed. These particles called cosmic rays come from the Sun and even from outside our solar system. They can be dangerous for astronauts and electronics, so it is important to understand them.

The ISS also studies the neutron stars, which are the remaining core of the giant stars exploding in the past. Even though they are small – only about the size of a city – they are extremely dense, meaning that they pack a lot of mass in a small space. A spoonful of Nutron Star will weigh millions of tons! Learning about them helps scientists understand how stars live and die, and how the extreme space environment works.

Space station has given astronauts alive and non-people since November 2000. It is a joint project among five major space agencies: NASA (United States), Rosquosmos (Russia), European Space Agency, Space Agency of Japan (Jaxa), and Canada’s Space Agency

As of May 2025, a total of 285 persons from 23 countries visited the International Space Station (ISS). The group consists of both professional astronauts and private individuals.

Among these visitors, there were 13 private individuals, often referred to as space tourists, who visited ISS through commercial arrangements.

ISS acts as a unique laboratory where scientists conduct experiments in microgravity, which aims to pursue our understanding of space and improve life on earth.

What is ISS?

In the mid -1980s, US President Ronald Reagan asked NASA to build an international space station within ten years. He said that this space station will make great progress in scientific research, which will help scientists to make a big discovery.

First, the United States worked with Europe and Japan to build a space station. In 1993, Russia was also invited to join as it had the most experience of running space stations in the classroom. By 1998, five major space agencies around the world came together to work on the International Space Station Project.

The International Space Station (ISS) was connected, designed as a group of tube -shaped squares. It moves on solar energy and uses special cooling systems with pipes that release heat in space. The ISS is made up of two main parts: Russian -oriented Russian section managed by Russia, and American segments, including modules and technology of many other countries working together.

Construction of the International Space Station (ISS) began in November 1998, when the first part of the station- Zariya Control Module- was launched in space by a proton rocket. “Zariya”, which means “sunrise” in Russian, was designed to provide electricity, communication links and to help control the position of the station in space. Today, although it no longer handles those tasks, Zariya is still used for storage and helps in station movement.

Two weeks after the launch of the Zariya module, the astronaut on the US Space Shuttle Endeavor run by NASA brought a major American part of the ISS to an American part called Ekta. This module is very important because it connects the dandruff and American parts of the space station, allowing them to function together as a large structure.

The first team living at the International Space Station (ISS) arrived on November 2, 2000. The crew consisted of two Russian cosmonots, Yuri Gidzenco and Sergei Criclave along with NASA’s astronaut Bill Shepherd.

Today, the International Space Station (ISS) is large as a football ground in the US, usually at least three astronauts live and work there at any time, but sometimes there can be six people on the board.

Both the US and the Russian segments of the International Space Station (ISS) produce their own power and have their own laboratories to do the dock to the living area and places for spacecraft. These sections are connected, so astronauts can move forward between them independently. They are also associated with a large metal structure, called truss, which supports the solar panels and cooling systems of the station that release heat in space.

In addition, this metal is connected to framework (truss), a large robotic hand created by Canada. It acts as a remote-controlled space crane and is used for many important jobs, such as to help them dock safely to grab the equipment around the station and the upcoming spacecraft.

On the American side of the space station, the largest module is called Kibo, which means “hope” in Japanese. It is a science laboratory built by Japan. This is especially that it has an external platform, such as a porch, where the experiments can be directly done in the outer location (in exposure to the vacuum, meaning without air or environment).

The Kibo module is close to the node 3, also known as the Tranquity Module. This section is a special viewing area produced by Europe, Kapola, which has several windows. It gives an amazing and unforgettable view to the earth’s astronauts from space.

In 2016, NASA has an inflatable room (a soft, expandable structure that once grows once in space) is first called the Biglo Expendent Activity Module (or Beam) for the space station. This special module may be the first step towards making inflatable space hotels or space tourist spots in the future.

Why does ISS matters?

All living things on Earth have adapted to survive in the natural environment of the Earth – not in the harsh and unfamiliar circumstances of space, which can affect living beings in unexpected and difficult ways.

International space station is the best place to live in a strange atmosphere of space and learn to work. This helps scientists to study how space affects the human body and other living things, which is important because our body is used for life on earth.

The biggest challenge of living in space is handling two major conditions: microgravity (which means almost no gravity) and high level space radiation. Both of these can seriously affect how the human body works, which makes it difficult to stay healthy in space.

Staying in space also means to adjust a small, attached place, to have limited contact with people back to Earth, and to face stressful situations where astronauts should work quickly as a team to stay safe.

Astronauts should adjust in life where the sun rises and sets 16 times each day, as the space station travels around the Earth every 90 minutes (16 sun rises and 16 sunset). To get proper sleep, they need to secure themselves in a certain place so that they do not swim. In addition, they should perform daily exercise to keep their bones strong and prevent muscle damage due to low gravity in space.

International Space Station (ISS) astronauts have to deal with very hot and very cold temperatures as it revolves around the Earth. The sun facing the sun can be warm as 121 ° C (250 ° F), while the side of the sun may fall up to -157 ° C (-250 ° F). This is a major difference of approximately 300 ° C, which is why ISS requires advanced cooling and heating systems to work properly.

In space, no one is up or down, so astronauts face many problems. They can feel dizzy or confused about the direction, their blood and fluids move differently in the body, and many also have eye problems, which scientists are still trying to understand.

In space, astronauts are brought in contact with more radiation, which increases the risk of cancer. To protect them, scientific scientists on Earth are working in particular places that can block harmful cosmic rays (high-energy particles from the sun and outer location) and protect astronauts during long space missions.

Astronauts at the space station are busy with many science experiments that help us find out how people can live in space for a long time. These include growing plants and human tissues in low gravity, finding out how germs behave in space, study how space changes our DNA and genes, and even checking whether humans can have children in space – although this final part is still not fully known.

While most of the experiments at the space station focus on how humans can live and stay healthy in space, some research outside the station look far away in space. These experiments help scientists learn more about the universe and space environment where future astronauts can remain.

A device at the space station, called Nikokar, is used to study neutron stars. These are the remaining core of dead stars (what remains after the explosion of a large star in space). They are known as the most dense objects in the universe, which have been discovered by scientists.

Another device at the space station, called the alpha magnetic spectrometer (AMS), is used in particle physics research. It tries to catch and study cosmic rays (smaller, high-energy particles) to help scientists to know how the universe started and what it is at the most basic level.

In recent years, American astronauts usually live at the international space station for about three to six months. However, in 2016, NASA’s astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian Cosmonott Mikhail Cornianco set a record in space for about a year. Back to Earth, scientists are also creating an environment such as how separation affects people’s mind and behavior to study. This helps them to find out what kind of person is best suited for very long space missions in the future.

Modern trip for ISS

By 2011, astronauts traveled to the International Space Station using US Space Shuttle or Soyuz Spacecraft of Russia. But after the US stopped using the space shuttle, Soyuz became the only way to reach the ISS. This changed in May 2020, when a private company, SpaceX, successfully launched the astronaut at the space station, returning another option to the human space trip.

SpaceX has been sending supply from the International Space Station (ISS) since 2012. In 2020, the company also began flying astronauts for ISS through NASA’s commercial crew program.

Dragon spacecraft manufactured by SpaceX can carry up to 6,000 kg (13,228 pounds) of cargo and return to Earth to 3,000 kg (6,614 pounds). So far, the dragon has completed more than 20 missions at the space station.

The dragon is also designed to carry 7 people from the Earth’s orbit. The pressure part of the capsule is especially designed to catch both humans and delicate cargo that requires a safe environment.

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