How large is the International Space Station?
The International Space Station is the largest structure ever built in space by humans and has a backbone-like main truss as long as a football field. On a clear night, the space station can easily be seen by the unaided eye as it flies overhead, at times even outshining the planet Venus. The space station is built in two major segments: A U.S. segment and a Russian segment. The Russian segment currently consists of the Zarya and Zvezda modules, and several smaller docking and research nodes. The U.S. segment includes NASA’s Destiny lab, connecting nodes (Tranquility, Unity and Harmony) and international laboratories from Europe and Japan. Canada built the station’s robotic arm and mobile railcar system. Altogether the station has 13 different habitable compartments and features enough living space as 1.5 Boeing 747 jumbo jets (about equivalent to a three-bedroom house).
