How Was the ISS Actually Built?

Added: 2026-05-22

[00:00:00]How do you build a home for humans in space? This is how we built the International Space Station. It's basically a six-bedroom house the size of a soccer field orbiting 400 km above Earth. The very first module was built by Russia nearly 30 years ago and launched into space on a massive rocket.

[00:00:17]After that, other countries started building and sending up their own modules. Astronauts connected them together piece by piece like giant LEGO blocks. Sometimes they used a huge robotic arm. Other times astronauts had to manually connect the modules during spacewalks. The air inside the station is either brought from Earth, recycled from astronauts' breath, or created by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity. That electricity comes from giant solar panels. Water is also constantly recycled from astronauts' breath and even their urine.

[00:00:47]In total, it took [music] 42 rocket launches, more than 10 years, and over 150 individual pieces to build humanity's international home in space.

[00:00:56]But after decades orbiting Earth, the ISS is scheduled to come down in 2031.