International space station is 10 years old

As of November 20, 2008, the International Space Station (ISS), the largest international space project of the 20th and 21st centuries, is 10 years old.

10 years ago (November 20, 1998), the ISS project was started with the successful creation of the Daria module at the center of Russia's Khrunichev under the orders of Boeing Corporation (USA) and successfully launched. This module enters orbit.

The negotiations on the ISS project began in 1993, the time when the Russian Federation had 25 years of experience using the "Welcome" or "Peace" (Mir) Orbital Station, the ships were manned. "Combine" (Souz) and cargo ships to the "Progress" universe.

At the same time, the Russian space research and exploitation industry has a rich experience of the longest flight in the universe - 438 days and nights.

After the meeting on March 15, 1993 between the then director of the Russian Aerospace Agency Yuri Kopchev, Yuri Semenov, general engineer and director of the US Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) Daniel Goldin, day 2 -9-1993 Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin and the then vice president of the time, Al Gore, signed the "Joint Declaration on Cosmic Cooperation" to build and launch ISS orbit.

On November 2, 2000, the "Combined TM-31" ship for the first time brought the international travel team of Yuri Ghidzenko and Sergey Krikalev and American astronaut Williams Shepard to ISS.

Since that time, ISS has always had international travelers operating and this station has received a total of 18 crews. Since 2009, the international fleet operating regularly on ISS will be increased from 3 to 6 people. Over the past 10 years, ISS has welcomed 168 astronauts and tourists from 15 world countries.

The current weight of the ISS is over 300 tons and will reach 377 tons after being completed. At first scientists expected the operating time of ISS on orbit to be 15 years. Currently 16 countries participating in the ISS project are planning to extend the "life expectancy" of ISS to 2020 and turn it into a "space port" to prepare for the inter-planetary research and exploration missions.