The International Station is launched, segment-by-segment, and assembled in space.

The International Space Station (ISS) is so huge that no single rocket could launch it at one time. Hence, the ISS was divided into segments (modules) and launched by using the Russian Proton rockets and the US Space Shuttles. It took more than 40 flights in total to launch all of the segments of the ISS. Once launched, the segments were assembled in space thus making one huge space station.

The first segment was launched on November 20, 1998.

The ISS has already constructed and completed on July 19, 2011.

（Credit：NASA/Roscosmos）