The International Space Station is the largest object ever constructed by humans in space.
The station perimeter now extends over roughly the area of a
football field, although only a small fraction of this is composed of modules habitable by humans.
The station is so large that it could not be
launched all at once --
it is being built piecemeal with large sections added
continually by flights of the
Space Shuttle.
To function, the
ISS needs huge
trusses, some over 15 meters long and with masses over 10,000 kilograms, to keep it rigid and to route
electricity and liquid coolants.
Pictured above, part of the immense
space station was photographed out of a window by a member of the visiting Space Shuttle Discovery
STS-131 crew.
Visible in the foreground is
Japan's
Kibo research module, while a large
truss is visible toward the left.
On the far right, a crescent Earth
slices through the blackness of space.
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