The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest habitable artificial satellite in low Earth orbit (LEO), orbiting at an altitude of approximately 400 kilometers (250 miles). It represents a joint multinational collaborative project between NASA (USA), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada). Spanning 108 meters by 73 meters—about the size of a football field—it has maintained continuous human presence since November 2000.
The ISS does not produce its own external light. Instead, it shines brightly because its massive solar array panels, covering an area of over 2,400 square meters, reflect sunlight back to Earth. During twilight hours just after dusk or before dawn, the ground is dark while the station 400 km above is bathed in bright sunlight, making it appear brighter than Venus in the night sky.
The ISS moves smoothly across the sky without flashing strobe lights or making any engine noise. It looks like a bright, constant white star traveling swiftly over 3 to 5 minutes.
To stay in orbit without falling to Earth, the ISS travels at an astonishing speed of 7.66 km/s (approx. 27,700 km/h or 17,200 mph). It completes a full orbit around Earth every 92.6 minutes, meaning astronauts experience 16 sunrises and sunsets every single day.
JAXA's Japanese Experiment Module (JEM), nicknamed 'Kibo' (Hope), is the largest single module on the ISS. Equipped with its own robotic arm, scientific airlock, and external exposed facility, it leads global experiments in microgravity protein crystallization, new material sciences, and CubeSat deployments.
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