The first piece of the International Space Station was launched in November 1998. A Russian rocket launched the Russian Zarya (zar EE uh) control module. About two weeks later, the space shuttle Endeavour met Zarya in orbit. The space shuttle was carrying the U.S. Unity node.

1998

The International Space Station (ISS) is a multi-nation construction project that is the largest single structure humans ever put into space. Its main construction was completed between 1998 and 2011, although the station continually evolves to include new missions and experiments.

Baikonur

The first space station was Salyut 1, which was launched by the Soviet Union on April 19, 1971. The earlier Soviet stations were all designated “Salyut”, but among these there were two distinct types: civilian and military. The military stations, Salyut 2, Salyut 3, and Salyut 5, were also known as Almaz stations.

Images taken by a Nasa spacecraft show that the American flags planted in the Moon’s soil by Apollo astronauts are mostly still standing. Now, researchers have studied photos of the same areas taken at different points during the day and have observed shadows circling the points where the flags are thought to be.

The United States spent $28 billion to land men on the Moon between 1960 and 1973, or approximately $280 billion when adjusted for inflation.

Nonetheless, Earth is the only place in the Universe known to harbor life.

Habitability. Robert Zubrin has pointed out that Titan possesses an abundance of all the elements necessary to support life, saying “In certain ways, Titan is the most hospitable extraterrestrial world within our solar system for human colonization.” The atmosphere contains plentiful nitrogen and methane.

Breathing on Mars In these conditions humans die within minutes unless a pressure suit provides life support. If Mars’ atmospheric pressure could rise above 19 kPa (2.8 psi), then a pressure suit would not be required. Visitors would only need to wear a mask that supplied 100% oxygen under positive pressure.

The planet Uranus indeed contains a significant amount of hydrogen and methane, both highly flammable gases. However, the burning of methane or hydrogen requires oxygen. Simply put, there is no free oxygen on the planet Uranus.

However, the habitability of Kepler-22b is not necessarily a sure thing. It is only listed in an “optimstic sample” of potentially habitable planets at The Habitable Exoplanets Catalog (a project of the Planetary Habitability Laboratory of the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo).

22 million years