The International Space Station

A home in orbit, always lived in

You can see it with your eyes

The International Space Station — The space station with its joined modules and solar panels, above the curve of the Earth.

The numbers

What it is: A lived-in laboratory in orbit
Who runs it: Five space agencies together
How high it flies: 230mi(370 km)210 to 250 mi (330 to 410 km)
Trips around each day: 15.5About one every hour and a half
Lived in since: November 2, 2000, without a break

To get an idea

Its frame is longer than a football field, and that is why you can see it with the naked eye.

Whoever is on board sees the Sun rise and set more than fifteen times in a day.

Fun facts

These are not in the book: there was no room on paper.

It travels around the planet at an average speed of about seventeen thousand miles an hour.
It makes more than fifteen full trips around the Earth every single day.
Whoever is on board sees more than fifteen sunrises and just as many sunsets a day.
It flies between about two hundred five and two hundred fifty-five miles up.
It was built one piece at a time, joining in orbit modules that were carried up separately.

Test yourself

The first question is the one printed under the QR code, with the answer the book did not give. The other four only exist here.

Question 1 of 5★ is the one from your book

Since when has the station always been lived in?

Question 2 of 5

How many space agencies run it?

Question 3 of 5

How many times does it go around the Earth each day?

Question 4 of 5

Can you see it from the ground?

Question 5 of 5

How many sunrises does someone on board see in a day?

Riddles

Someone has been inside me for more than twenty years without a single day off, and yet I never stand still: I go around your world more than fifteen times a day. What am I?

I was put together piece by piece in a place where nothing can be set down, and I was built by five different teams that speak different languages. What am I?

If you know the right time you can see me with your own eyes: I look like a bright star that glides and does not twinkle. But I am not a star, and I have people aboard. What am I?

Try it yourself

Activity 1

At the right time, look in the right direction: you will see a very bright dot crossing the sky without blinking. There are people up there.

Activity 2

Wave: it is pointless and you know it, but it is the simplest way to realize you are not looking at a star.

The words

module: Each of the pieces that, joined together, make up a space station.

Sources: Wikidata (Q25956), Wikipedia (Stazione spaziale internazionale).