How was the International Space Station (ISS) built?

How was the International Space Station (ISS) built?

The ISS was assembled from pre-assembled modules and trusses that were connected to each other using attachment mechanisms.

Russian modules were designed to be self sufficient. They were dropped off in orbit by the Proton launcher and then used their own navigation and propulsion systems to maneuver to the location of the ISS.

Here is the FGB (Functional Cargo Block) (AKA Zarya). It was the first component of the International Space Station (ISS) to make it to orbit. It launched on 20 November, 1998.

A few weeks later, the Space Shuttle Endeavour rendezvoused with the FGB and attached the first US module, Node 1 (AKA Unity). For most of the ISS modules, the first time they would be anywhere near each other was when they met, on orbit. They were assembled around the world in America, Russia, Japan, Italy, Germany, France, and Canada.

Next would come the Russian Service Module (AKA Zvezda).

The other partners (NASA, ESA, JAXA, and CSA) each built their components to be flown as payloads within the Space Shuttle payload bay.

Here's a photo the US Lab (Destiny) being delivered by the Space Shuttle Atlantis in 2001.

The Space Shuttle would dock to the ISS and then using a combination of the Space Shuttle robotic arm and the Space Station robotic arm (both built by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA)), remove the component from the payload bay and attach it to the appropriate location on the ISS.

More than 40 flights would be conducted to deliver hardware for the ISS, until eventually it would look like this.

The completed ISS is a massive structure. The width of the truss is 108.4 meters. There is about 1200 cubic meters of pressurized volume and a total mass of over 400,000 kg.

Attachment of each of these modules was done using mechanisms such as CBM (Common Berthing Mechanism) for pressurized modules and SSAS (Segment to Segment Attachment System) for unpressurized trusses.

Astronauts would support by operating the robotic arms and by performing EVA (spacewalks) to manually connect things like umbilicals for power, data, or coolant.

Six people live inside the ISS. It has been continually manned for 14 years, allowing thousands and thousands of hours of scientific experiments to be conducted.