The International Space Station was constructed between 1998 and 2011.

 

The International Space Station was constructed between 1998 and 2011.

The ISS wasn’t created by just one nation but an extensive collection of different national space agencies.

Some modules were created by the US, and others were created by Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada throughout the 90s and early 2000s.

The actual assembly began in 1998 when the first module, the Russian-made Zarya, was launched on a Russian Proton rocket.

The rest of the modules were all ferried to the ISS by NASA’s Space Shuttles.

Current plans call for the space station to be operated through at least 2024, with the partners discussing a possible extension. NASA has approved an extension to 2030, although Russia says it will withdraw after 2024 to focus on building its own space station around 2028. How the station will be operated after Russia's departure has not yet been determined. After 2030, plans for the International Space Station are not clearly laid out either. It could be deorbited, or recycled for future commercial space stations in orbit.

Crews aboard the ISS are assisted by mission control centers in Houston and Moscow and a payload control center in Huntsville, Ala. Other international mission control centers support the space station from Japan, Canada and Europe. Elements of the ISS are controlled from mission control centers in Houston or Moscow.