View from the cupola of the International Space Station above the South Pacific Ocean
© NAS
View from the cupola of the International Space Station
Pictured here is the view from the cupola of the International Space Station, showing the vast South Pacific Ocean. The station was designed between 1984 and 1993. By the late 1980s, construction of its components was underway across the United States, Canada, Japan and Europe, with Russia joining later.
In 1998, the first module, Zarya, launched into orbit. The assembly of Zarya with the Unity module was conducted by the crew of the STS-88 mission, which included American astronauts Jerry L. Ross and James H. Newman. Piece by piece, astronauts assembled it—like a cosmic LEGO set—until it became the sprawling, high-tech hub it is today. Since November 2, 2000, the ISS has been home to astronauts nonstop—meaning humans have been living in space for over two decades! The ISS has a pressurised volume of about 900 cubic metres and a mass of over 400,00 kilograms, making it the heaviest human-made object ever to orbit Earth.
Related Images
Mount Burgess and Emerald Lake in Yoho National Park, British Columbia, Canada
Plaza de España, Seville, Spain
Iguazu Falls seen from Paraná, Brazil
Indian Head Cove, Bruce Peninsula National Park, Ontario, Canada
Magellanic penguins, Volunteer Point, Falkland Islands
Spire Cove in Kenai Fjords National Park, Seward, Alaska, United States
Beach chairs on Steinwarder in Heiligenhafen, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, United States
Today on Bing
Earth from the International Space Station
Earth from the International Space Station
Easter decorations at Alexanderplatz, Berlin
