International Space Station celebrates 20th anniversary of orbiting Earth

1/50
Sophie Williams24 November 2018

This week marks the 20th anniversary of the construction of the International Space Station.

As of November 20, 2018 the ISS has been orbiting earth for 20 years.

The Standard has put together a gallery of incredible images showing how it has evolved over time, from the launch of the Zarya module in 1998 to the space station we know today.

Some 15 counties including the US, UK, Canada, Russia and Germany contributed to the construction of the station.

The crew of Soyuz MS-08 spacecraft took these images of the International Space Station in October 2018
Roscosmos/NASA

Gary Oleson, space station engineer at NASA from 1988 to 1993, told Space.com that the ISS pushed NASA into "an entirely new way of thinking".

He said: "We normally think of a spacecraft as being a spacecraft. But it turned out that the International Space Station, during the assembly, was not, from an engineering point of view, one spacecraft.

Astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, Mission Specialist, Hangs Onto A Handrail October 15, 2000
Getty Images

"It was at one time 19 different spacecraft, because every time you went up and added a new element, you had a different spacecraft. It had a different mass; it had a different reliability."

The ISS is a satellite that flies around the world every 90 minutes, travelling at five miles per second.

Astronauts have been living on board the station ever since its first stages. It has been continuously occupied since November 2000.

Around 230 astronauts from 18 countries have visited the ISS with over 200 spacewalks carried out since December 1998.

The Space Shuttle Endeavour lights up the night sky as it embarks on the first U.S. mission dedicated to the assembly of the International Space Station
Getty Images

Images from our gallery show numerous astronauts including Tim Peake embarking on missions to the station.

Astronauts continue to take part in experiments and research in human physiology and astronomy.

Astronaut Chris Hadfield performing aboard the International Space Station
EPA

Another photograph shows Chris Hadfield, a Canadian astronaut, who went viral in 2015 after he released a video of himself playing Space Oddity on the guitar onboard the space station.

According to NASA scientists, the station could be discontinued after 2024.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in