Spacestation
A space station (or orbital station) is a spacecraft which remains in orbit and hosts humans for extended periods of time. It is therefore an artificial satellite featuring habitation facilities. The purpose of maintaining a space station varies depending on the program. Most often space stations have been research stations, but they have also served military or commercial uses, such as hosting space tourists.
Space stations have been hosting the only continuous presence of humans in space. The first space station was Salyut 1 (1971), which hosted the first crew of the ill-fated Soyuz 11. Consecutively space stations have been operated since Skylab (1973) and occupied since 1987 with the Salyut successor Mir. Uninterrupted human presence in orbital space through space stations has been sustained since the operational transition from the Mir to the International Space Station (ISS), with the latter's first occupation in 2000.
There are currently two fully operational space stations – the ISS, occupied since Expedition 1 in October 2000, and China's Tiangong Space Station (TSS), occupied since June 2022 since the Shenzhou 14 mission. The highest number of people at the same time on one space station has been 13, first achieved with the eleven day docking to the ISS of the 127th Space Shuttle mission in 2009. The record for most people on all space stations at the same time has been 17, first reached on May 30, 2023, with 11 people on the ISS and 6 on the TSS.
Space stations are often modular, featuring docking ports, through which they are built and maintained. Docking ports allow for the joining or movement of modules and the docking of other spacecraft for the exchange of people, supplies and tools. While space stations generally do not leave their orbit, they do feature thrusters for station keeping.
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