The era of International Space Station (ISS)

SHERAZUR RAHMAN##

The International Space Station, also known as ISS, has been overseen by the American space research agency NASA since 1984. It was built by the United States and its allied countries as a response to the Soviet Union’s ‘Mir’ space station, particularly during the Cold War era. Over the course of its development and operation, approximately $200 billions has already been invested in this project until 2022 to ensure its technical maintenance and development. In 1998, the International Space Station was sent into low earth orbit marking the beginning of its prestigious journey. On December 31, 2000, the frist astronaut was sent to the ISS through Russia’s Suez Heavy Rocket Delivery System. Since then, the International Space Station has been orbiting the Earth at a speed of 27,576 kilometers per hour, experiencing zero gravity, completing one orbit every one and a half hours. Positioned in the Low Earth Orbit, it hovers at an altitude of 408 kilometers above the Earth’s surface (with a perigee altitude of 413 km). The ISS is now jointly controlled and operated by NASA, Russia’s Roscosmos, Canada’s CSA, Japan’s (JAXA), and the European Space Agency (ESA) for space reachers and expriments. With a current weight of around 450 tons, it has the capacity to accommodate up to seven astronauts at once. However, the first space station, ‘Salyut-1’ module was launched into space by the former Soviet Union on April 19, 1971. However, China, with its vast capabilities, has sent a Tianhe space station  into spacea pioneering chapter in history.##