A Decade on the Fly: Building the International Space Station--Module by Module [Slide Show]
Between 1998 and 2010 the station evolved from a single Russian module to a behemoth orbital outpost the size of a football field
![A Decade on the Fly: Building the International Space Station--Module by Module [Slide Show]](https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/045CED9B-4DC8-4639-86D971537B06C134.jpg?w=590&h=393)
A Decade on the Fly: Building the International Space Station--Module by Module [Slide Show]
- SPACE SPRAWL Shuttle astronauts have not visited the ISS since May, when space shuttle Atlantis delivered a Russian-built research module during STS-132. The photo above shows how the station looked on approach during that mission. On November 3—10 years and one day after the ISS became occupied for the long haul—space shuttle Discovery is scheduled to lift off for the station, bringing a load of spare parts meant to keep the station in good repair long after the shuttle program is phased out in 2011. NASA
- BRANCHING OUT By September 2009, when this photograph from space shuttle Discovery was taken toward the end of the STS-128 mission, the ISS had its full complement of solar array wings and stretched more than 100 meters. The station's crew size had also doubled, reaching its full complement of six earlier that year. ESA's Columbus module [right] and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Kibo experiment module [left] are visible at the top of the station in this view. NASA
- SPACE SCIENCE The STS-122 mission in February 2008 delivered the Columbus laboratory module for the European Space Agency (ESA). In this view from space shuttle Atlantis following undocking with the ISS, the newly installed Columbus is visible as a cylinder jutting off to the left at the bottom of the station. NASA
- BALANCE OF POWER In 2007 the STS-117 mission delivered the ISS's third set of solar array wings. (Only two are visible here; one set was retracted until relocation during a later mission.) The above photograph was taken during space shuttle Atlantis's inspection fly-around following the solar upgrade. NASA
- BACK TO WORK On February 1, 2003, space shuttle Columbia broke apart during atmospheric reentry following a research mission, killing all seven crew members on board. The shuttle program was put on hold, and the assembly of the ISS stalled. But by July 26, 2005, NASA was ready to restart shuttle operations, and the STS-114 mission lifted off carrying shuttle astronauts to the space station. The "Return to Flight" test mission was deemed a success, and the construction of the station resumed. The above photograph shows the ISS against the backdrop of Earth's limb as space shuttle Discovery pulled away from the station toward the end of its mission. NASA
- TAKING WING By December 2000 the ISS had already been crewed for a month. That month, space shuttle mission STS-97 delivered to the station its first set of solar arrays, or "wings," to generate power for onboard activities. The ISS would eventually boast four sets of solar-panel wings, each of them 73 meters long. NASA
- PIECE BY PIECE In July 2000 another Russian component was delivered to orbit by a Proton rocket. The Zvezda service module [the pictured module with the largest solar wingspan] linked to the existing Zarya module and provided working and sleeping quarters for future crew members. The foreground of the above photograph, taken from space shuttle Atlantis in September 2000, also shows a small, unmanned Russian Progress supply craft docked to Zvezda. NASA
- FIRST THING FIRST This photo was taken from space shuttle Endeavour on approach to the unmanned, Russian-built Zarya module during the STS-88 mission in December 1998. Zarya, which provided an early source of propulsion and power, had been launched into space the month before on a Russian Proton rocket, becoming the first piece of the International Space Station (ISS) to reach orbit. NASA
