NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Astronauts have many duties on the International Space Station. Image Credit: Fred Sayers

The space station is a working laboratory orbiting 240 miles above the Earth and is home to an international crew. The station has more than 15,000 cubic feet of habitable volume, which includes more room than a conventional three-bedroom house. The station provides a laboratory complex where gravity, a fundamental force on Earth, is virtually eliminated for extended periods. The ability to control the variable of gravity in experiments creates unimaginable research possibilities.

The station is vital to human exploration. It is where we are learning how to combat the physiological effects of being in space for long periods. The space station is our test bed for technologies and our decision-making processes when things go as planned and when they don't. It is important to learn and test these things 240 miles up rather than encountering them 240,000 miles away while on the way to Mars or beyond.