Shadow's Desk

The ISS is the worlds most expensive and colossal structure ever built by mankind.Strictly speaking, it is an artificial satellite orbiting the Earth.But its just not that.The ISS can mainly be considered as an outer space research facility and lab.Yes,a lab!The ISS is being currently being assembled in low earth orbit,staring from 1998 and will be completed by 2011(what's the use if the earth will be gone in 2012?!). As of May 2009 the station was 82.8% complete.The ISS represents a synthesis of several space station projects including the American Freedom, the Soviet/Russian Mir-2, the European Columbus and the Japanese Kibō. Budget issues led to the separate projects being merged into a single multi-national space station.Money can bring people together! The ISS serves as a long-term research laboratory in space, with experiments in fields including biology, human biology, physics, astronomy and meteorology being carried out daily in the station's microgravity environment.Ex...