A little wonder, every day
ISS: international assembly in orbit
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МКС, знята під час обльоту в місії STS-132 у 2010 році, NASA / ISS photographed during the STS-132 fly-around in 2010, NASA; a dated configuration, not its present exact state.
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Large modules and major elements of the International Space Station arrived on 42 assembly flights; the partnership involved five space agencies from 15 countries. The ISS flies roughly 400 kilometres above Earth, with a varying altitude. Not every familiar NASA invention came from the ISS: memory foam originated in 1960s aviation research, while modern CMOS image-sensor development occurred at JPL in the 1990s. NASA plans station operations through 2030 followed by controlled deorbiting; this is a plan, rather than a completed event.