INSTANT EXPERT
HOW MANY TYPES OF SPACE STATION ARE THERE?
The ISS is the largest and best-known space station, but it is not the first or the last in space
The first description of a space station First started in 1986, the last module arrived appeared in a short story, The Brick Moon, in 1996, completing a seven module, 129- BIO written in 1869 by American author Edward tonne space station that was occupied for T Everett Hale. It is also thought to be the 4,592 days and visited by 104 people from first description of an artificial satellite, and satellite 12 nations, including Britain’s first spaceflight navigation, as a 61-metre (200-foot) wide brick participant, Helen Sharman. The end of the sphere is launched into orbit as a navigational aid. Soviet Union brought the American and However, Russian scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Russian programmes together and the carried out the first scientific work on space stations Shuttle flew missions to Mir from 1995 until in the early 20th century. Slovenian scientist Herman 1998, paving the way for the International Potočnik then put forward the classic rotating ringshaped design in his 1929 book, The Problem Of Space Travel. Ultimately, it would be the USSR that launched
the first real space station, which was Salyut 1 in 1971.