 After the “Space Race” to the moon was over, both Russia and the USA put space stations in orbit around our planet. Space Stations Skylab-US Space Station  The first US space station was the Sky Lab launched on May 14, Although it stayed in orbit until 1979, it was only used for manned missions for less than a year.

 The first Russian space station, the Salyut-2 was launched on May 28, Space Stations  Although it only lasted two weeks due to damage from debris in orbit, the Salyut program was very successful, and it lead to the development of the Mir space station. Salyut-2 USSR Space Station 1973  F.Y.I. - In Russian, the word Salyut means “Salute.”

Space Stations  Russian successfully manned six Salyut space stations.  In 1986 the final Salyut space station was the Salyut-7. Salyut-7 USSR Space Station 1986

 From 1986 to 2001, the Russian Mir space station was the largest satellite ever built. Space Stations A) Longest continuous occupation at 3, 644 days (10 years) B) Longest time in space for one person (437 days) Mir-USSR Space Station Manned Many records were set on Mir.

 To reduce costs and to share results, a group of nations decided to work together to build the ISS. International Space Station  The 5 main nations: USA, Russia, Canada, Japan, and Brazil. (About 15 other nations are also involved.) The International Space Station-ISS (1998 to present) Space Shuttle

 ISS is the largest space station ever built  It is as large as a football field (see picture below)  6 to 10 people can conduct experiments for months/years The International Space Station-ISS (1998 to present) New Record: Longest time in space (800+ days-Russian Cosmonaut)

Space Stations  Currently China is not part of the ISS space station effort.  In 2011, China placed their own space station in orbit called the Tiangong-1. (This name means “Heavenly Palace” Tiangong-1 China’s Space Station 2011

Future Space Station? With 25,000 signatures, the White House will address your petition. 1) Too expensive: Cost estimated at $ 850, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000. In 2015, a request to build a “Death Star” was submitted. Here are three key reasons it was denied.  That is 850 quadrillion which is about 13, 000 times greater that the combined GDP for every nation on planet Earth. 2) Too Wasteful: US does not support blowing up planets. 3) Too Flawed: Can be easily blown up by a single spacecraft.

Let’s watch a Brainpop video about the ISS  Click on this link and log in: Brainpop websiteBrainpop website Science Brainpop Video SPI 0807.T/E.2 (Eng Des Process) US.88 (Space Race)