The International Space Station is a high-flying laboratory that supports a wide range of scientific inquiry. Use these links to get to know the space station: Take a tour, learn about the crew or see when the station will fly over your hometown!
Connect to the Mission
Station Live
Station in Orbit
Station Social Media
- Station Facebook
- Station Twitter
- Station Twitter Astronauts
- Station YouTube Playlist
- Station Flickr Set
- Station Research
- Station Instagram
Education on Station
Inspiring the Next Generation: International Space Station Education Opportunities and Accomplishments 2000-2012 [PDF] – The experiments, activities and photographs in this summary document are all evidence of the opportunities offered by the International Space Station to involve educators and students in STEM.
Additional Resources
International Space Station Website – Access the home page for the International Space Station.
Spot the Station – Find out when the station will be flying overhead.
Tour the Station – Get an inside view of the space station from one of its former residents.
Take ESA’s Online Tour of the Space Station – Just before European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti left the International Space Station after 199 days, she took up to 15 pictures inside each module. Now, the images have been stitched together to create an interactive panorama.
ISS Benefits for Humanity – Almost as soon as the International Space Station was habitable, researchers began using it to study the impact of microgravity and other space effects on several aspects of our daily lives.
Upward Magazine – The Quarterly Magazine of the International Space Station National Laboratory – Upward provides information about the latest research experiments taking place on the space station.
Build the Station Simulation – Educator Guide – Students work together to build a paper model of the International Space Station.
Kids Zone 3: International Space Station – Learn about the space station through videos and games.
International Space Station Activity Book – Get to know the space station through a series of fun activities.
Space Station Research Explorer App (available on iPhone, iPad and Android platforms) – Search past and current space station studies, and learn about facilities and benefits of the research done off the Earth, for the Earth.
Space Station Research Explorer on NASA.gov – Browse or search the thousands of space station experiments and investigations, results summaries, article citations, and in-orbit photographs.
Space to Ground – Watch a new episode of the “Space to Ground” Web series every Friday. Each episode features a short wrap-up of the week’s activities aboard the International Space Station. The wrap-up showcases the diversity of activities taking place aboard the world’s only orbiting laboratory.
One-Year Mission – Meet astronaut Scott Kelly and cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, the two crew members that stayed on board the space station for one year. The One-Year Mission focused on seven categories of research: functional, behavioral health, visual impairment, metabolic, physical performance, microbial and human factors. Check out these One-Year Mission Video Series to learn more about the areas of research conducted as a part of the One-Year Mission.
A Year of Education on Station – Use the hashtag #TeacherOnBoard to follow astronauts and former teachers Joe Acaba (September 2017-February 2018) and Ricky Arnold (March 2018-October 2018) as they each live and work on the International Space Station.