credit Photo: NASA
Floating 190 miles above the Earth’s surface, the extraplanetary crash pad known as the International Space Station careens through the sky at an average of over 17,000 miles per hour, making almost 16 Earth orbits a day. Set for completion in 2011, it’s been http://archive.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/12/dayintech_1204 10 years since construction first began on the ISS. The final version will double its current capacity of three residents to six and provide incalculable contributions to science. In honor of its 10th birthday, we’ve assembled some of our favorite photos from the space station’s lifetime. Click through the gallery for a glimpse at one of the world’s most impressive sci-fi realities. Left:Astronaut Piers J. Sellers moves along a truss on the International Space Station, while space shuttle Discovery is docked in July 2006.
credit Photo: NASA
The Soyuz TMA-13 spacecraft approaches the International Space Station with Expedition 18 on Oct. 14, 2008. Visible in the background is the southeastern coast of Tunisia (left), the Gulf of Gabès and the Isle of Jerba (bottom center). Top of the picture points northwest. The Expedition 18 mission brought NASA astronaut Michael Fincke and Russian Federal Space Agency cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov to the ISS for a six-month stay that relieved two other astronauts of their posts. Of particular note to Wired.com readers: Videogame icon and now space tourist Richard Garriott (known as Lord British in the Ultima series) tagged along on the expedition for 12 days before returning to Earth on Oct. 24.
credit Photo: NASA
The International Space Station is seen here in front of the Earth’s horizon, photographed from the space shuttle Atlantis as it moves farther away June 19, 2007.During the departure and fly-around, the Atlantis crew got a look at the station’s newly expanded configuration, which included the retraction of an old solar array and the unfolding of a new one on the starboard side of the station.
credit Photo: NASA
During a seven-hour, 19-minute spacewalk, astronaut Scott Parazynski cut a snagged wire and installed homemade stabilizers to strengthen a damaged solar array. Parazynski is anchored to a foot restraint on the end of the Orbiter Boom Sensor System. Mission STS-120 was flown by the space shuttle Discovery and delivered the Harmony module. The module, among other things, added 2,666 cubic feet of living space and completed the U.S. core contribution to the ISS.
credit Photo: NASA
Best known for the insulation-foam scare after the Columbia tragedy, STS-118 found Endeavour with a puncture in its heat shield. Fortunately the fears that the exposed foam would lead to another catastrophe were needless.Endeavour’s orbital-maneuvering-system pods and vertical stabilizer are visible in this photo as it docks with the International Space Station. The mission successfully delivered its supplies and modules.
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On mission STS-122, European Space Agency astronaut Hans Schlegel works to replace a nitrogen tank used to pressurize the station’s ammonia cooling system. Pictured in the photo is the exterior of the new Columbus laboratory, which Schlegel traversed during the six-hour, 45-minute spacewalk.
credit Photo: Victor Zelentsov/NASA
The station’s first female commander, Peggy A. Whitson, walks with cosmonaut Yuri I. Malenchenko (center) and Malaysian space tourist Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, who is also the first Malaysian in space. The astronauts are wearing Russian Sokol launch-and-entry suits for Expedition 16. The crew launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Oct. 10, 2007, and arrived at the ISS on Oct. 12.
credit Photo: NASA
In this photo, the Expedition 1 crew members are still training for their upcoming mission a week-and-half prior to the Oct. 30, 2000, launch to International Space Station.They are (left to right) Soyuz commander Yuri P. Gidzenko, Expedition 1 commander William M. (Bill) Shepherd and flight engineer Sergei K. Krikalev. As the first residents of the ISS, it was this crew’s job to unpack all the supply boxes and move in. They stayed a little over four months before returning to Earth.
credit Photo: NASA
This view of Hurricane Felix was taken from the International Space Station on Sept. 3, 2007, with a 28-70mm lens set at 28mm focal length.The ISS was located nearly over the coast of eastern Honduras when this image was taken. At approximately noon GMT, Hurricane Felix was moving west at 21 miles per hour. The sustained winds were 165 miles per hour with higher gusts making it a category 5 hurricane.
credit Photo: Bill Ingalls/NASA
Photographer Bill Ingalls has traveled the world as a photographer for NASA since 1989. Honored by United Press International as one of the top pictures of 2007, Ingalls’ photo of the Soyuz TMA-11 spacecraft shows it being transported by train to its launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.The spacecraft launched two days later, bringing the Expedition 16 crew to the International Space Station.
credit Photo: NASA
Russian Federal Space Agency cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, Expedition 17 flight engineer, uses a communication system in the Zvezda service module of the International Space Station on July 17, 2008. The Russian module provides living quarters and life-support functions.
