Space station
A space station is a man-made structure that is designed for human beings to live on in outer space. A space station is distinguished from other manned spacecraft by its lack of major propulsion or landing facilities - instead, other vehicles are used as transport to and from the station. Space stations are designed for medium-term living in orbit, for periods of weeks, months, or even years.
Space stations are used to study the effects of long-term space flight on the human body as well as to provide platforms for greater number and length of scientific studies than available on other space vehicles.
Past and present space stations:
- Salyut stations: Salyut 1, Salyut 2, Salyut 3, Salyut 4, Salyut 5, Salyut 6, Salyut 7
- Skylab
- Mir
- International Space Station (ISS)
Additionally, Bigelow Aerospace is commercially developing inflatable habitat modules, intended to be used for space station construction.
Since the flight of Soyuz 11/Salyut 1, all manned spaceflight duration records have been set aboard space stations. The duration record of 437.7 days was set aboard Mir in 1994-1995. As of 2003, 3 astronauts have completed single missions of over a year, all aboard the space station Mir.
Some space station designs have been proposed which are intended as long-term space habitats for large numbers of people, essentially "cities in space" where people would make their homes. Thus far all such designs are only hypothetical, and have never been seriously considered for actual implementation.
List of occupied space stations
| Space Station | Launched | Reentered | Days in orbit | Days occupied | Total crew and visitors | Visits by manned spacecraft | Visits by unmanned spacecraft | Mass /kg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salyut 1 | April 19, 1971 01:40:00 UTC | October 11, 1971 00:00:00 UTC | 175 | 24 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 18,425 |
| Skylab | May 14, 1973 17:30:00UTC | July 11, 1979 00:00:00 UTC | 2,249 | 171 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 77,088 |
| Salyut 3 | June 25, 1974 22:38:00 UTC | January 24, 1975 00:00:00 UTC | 213 | 15 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 18,500 |
| Salyut 4 | December 26, 1974 04:15:00 UTC | February 3, 1977 00:00:00 UTC | 770 | 92 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 18,500 |
| Salyut 5 | June 22, 1976 18:04:00 UTC | August 8, 1977 00:00:00 UTC | 412 | 67 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 19,000 |
| Salyut 6 | September 29, 1977 06:50:00 UTC | July 29, 1982 00:00:00 UTC | 1,764 | 683 | 33 | 16 | 14 | 19,000 |
| Salyut 7 | April 19, 1982 19:45:00 UTC | February 7, 1991 00:00:00 UTC | 3,216 | 816 | 26 | 12 | 15 | 19,000 |
| Mir | February 19, 1986 21:28:23 UTC | March 23, 2001 05:50:00 UTC | 5,511 | 4,594 | 137 | 39 | 68 | 124,340 |
| ISS | November 20, 1998 21:28:23 UTC | Data as of October 24, 2004 | 2,165 | 1,452 | 130 | 25 | 18 | 187,016 |
da:Rumstation de:Raumstation it:Stazione spaziale fr:Station spatiale ja:宇宙ステーション nl:Ruimtestation pl:Stacja orbitalna sv:Rymdstation zh:空间站 es:Estación espacial