NORAD 25544
International Space Station (ISS)
About this satellite
The International Space Station is a crewed laboratory in low Earth orbit, built and run by five space agencies. Its first module, Zarya, launched in November 1998, and it is the largest structure humans have put in space.
- Operator
- NASA, Roscosmos, ESA, JAXA and CSA
- Owner
- ISS partners (US, Russia, Europe, Japan, Canada)
- Purpose
- Crewed research laboratory and outpost in low Earth orbit
- Launched
- 20 November 1998
- Status
- Operational
- International designator
- 1998-067A
- Altitude
- 415 km to 424 km (perigee to apogee)
- Orbital period
- 93.0 minutes (15.5 orbits a day)
- Inclination
- 51.6°
- Mass
- ≈450,000 kg
- Size
- 109 m long, 73 m wide across the solar arrays
Orbit and catalogue data: CelesTrak SATCAT, updated 2026-10-18.