Artist rendition of the ISS when completed.

The ISS is scheduled for core completion by the year 2004, with continued assembly through 2006. Using three vehicles (the US Space Shuttle, the Russian Proton rocket and the Russian Soyuz spacecraft), it will take more than 45 space flights to assemble the 100 plus components of the ISS.

Currently, the Zarya Control Module, the Unity Node, the Zvezda Service Module, and the Destiny Laboratory are orbiting Earth once every 90 minutes. During the initial stages of construction, Zarya, which is Russian for "sunrise," provided orientation control, communications and electrical power. Now it is used mainly for its storage capacity and external fuel tanks. Zvezda, which is Russian for "star," is connected to Zarya by the Unity module. Zvezda will supplement many of Zarya's features by adding life support and living quarters until the Habitation Module arrives. The U.S. Destiny Module accomodates many research experiments in a variety of disciplines, which will be used to help improve life on Earth. Below, key milestones are shown with a tenative schedule of future launch dates for some of the key components.

		The Russian Zarya module and U.S. Unity Node.

Launch Date*	Component
Nov 1998	Zarya Control Module
Dec 1998	Unity Node 1
July 2000	Zvezda Service Module
Oct 2000	Russian Soyuz and Crew 1
Nov 2000	Photovoltaic Module (Solar Arrays)
Feb 2001	Destiny Laboratory Module
Mar 2001	Crew 2
April 2001	Space Station Remote Manipulator System (Canadaian Robotic Arm)
July 2001	Quest Joint Airlock
Aug 2001	Crew 3
Dec 2001	Crew 4
May 2002	Crew 5
Sept 2002	Crew 6
Feb 2004	U.S. Node 2
TBD	Russian Science Platform
May 2004	Kibo (Japanese Experimental Module)
Oct 2004	Columbus (European Laboratory)
July 2005	U.S. Node 3
Sept 2005	Habitation Module
Dec 2005	Crew Return Vehicle
April 2006	Centrifuge Accomodation Module

*Based on Dec 2001 planning reference. For the complete schedule, go to NASA's Assembly Sequence Web page.

The main components that make up the current ISS configuration.

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