The International Space Station (ISS) is a modular space station in low Earth orbit. It is a joint project of five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada). The ISS serves as a space research laboratory, an Earth observation platform, and a technology testbed for future space exploration missions. The ISS has been continuously inhabited since 2000, and has been visited by astronauts and cosmonauts from 17 different countries.
In 2025, the ISS is scheduled to be decommissioned and deorbited. However, there are plans to extend the ISS’s lifespan until 2030. If the ISS is decommissioned in 2025, it will be replaced by a new space station called the Lunar Gateway. The Lunar Gateway will be a smaller, more modular space station that will orbit the Moon. The Lunar Gateway will serve as a base for astronauts and cosmonauts to conduct scientific research and prepare for future missions to the Moon and Mars.
