Take a tour on the International Space Station! | Science & Technology |Axisoflogic.com

Sunita Lyn "Suni" Williams, a former US astronaut provides a tour inside the International Space Station (ISS). Suni holds the records for longest single space flight by a woman (195 days), total spacewalks by a woman (seven), and most spacewalk time for a woman (50 hours, 40 minutes). She was a member of ISS Expeditions 14 and 15 and served as Flight Engineer on Expedition 32 in 2012 and later as ISS Commander on Expedition 33.

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Departing Space Station Commander Provides
Tour of Orbital Laboratory (November 2012)

Wikipedia has an excellent description of every aspect of the International Space Station (ISS). These are excerpts from the ISS detailed history as reported on Wiki:

The assembly of the International Space Station, a major endeavour in space architecture, began in November 1998. Russian modules launched and docked robotically, with the exception of Rassvet. All other modules were delivered by the Space Shuttle, which required installation by ISS and shuttle crewmembers using the SSRMS and EVAs; as of 5 June 2011, they had added 159 components during more than 1,000 hours of EVA. 127 of these spacewalks originated from the station, while the remaining 32 were launched from the airlocks of docked Space Shuttles.

The first module of the ISS, Zarya, was launched on 20 November 1998 on an autonomous Russian Proton rocket. It provided propulsion, attitude control, communications, electrical power, but lacked long-term life support functions. Two weeks later a passive NASA module Unity was launched aboard Space Shuttle flight STS-88 and attached to Zarya by astronauts during EVAs. This module has two Pressurized Mating Adapters (PMAs), one connects permanently to Zarya, the other allows the Space Shuttle to dock to the space station. At this time, the Russian station Mir was still inhabited. The ISS remained unmanned for two years, during which time Mir was de-orbited. On 12 July 2000 Zvezda was launched into orbit. Preprogrammed commands on board deployed its solar arrays and communications antenna. It then became the passive vehicle for a rendezvous with the Zarya and Unity. As a passive "target" vehicle, the Zvezda maintained a stationkeeping orbit as the Zarya-Unity vehicle performed the rendezvous and docking via ground control and the Russian automated rendezvous and docking system. Zarya's computer transferred control of the station to Zvezda's computer soon after docking. Zvezda added sleeping quarters, a toilet, kitchen, CO2 scrubbers, dehumidifier, oxygen generators, exercise equipment, plus data, voice and television communications with mission control. This enabled permanent habitation of the station.

The following modules have been added to ISS since 1998. These too are partial excerpts from more extensive descriptions with greater detail on Wikipedia:

Zarya (Russian: Заря́; lit. dawn), also known as the Functional Cargo Block or FGB (Russian: ФГБ), was the first module of the station, launched on 20 November 1998 by a Russian Proton-K rocket flying from Site 81/23 at the Baikonur in Kazakhstan. Zarya was placed into an initial parking orbit at an altitude of 400 km (250 mi). Zarya provided attitude control, communications and electrical power for the station prior to the arrival of the Zvezda module. The FGB was derived from the TKS spacecraft developed during the Salyut programme.

Unity, or Node 1, is one of three nodes, or passive connecting modules, in the US Orbital Segment of the station. It was the first US-built component of the Station to be launched. Cylindrical in shape, with six berthing locations facilitating connections to other modules, Unity was carried into orbit by Space Shuttle Endeavour as the primary cargo of STS-88 in 1998.

Zvezda (Russian: Звезда́, meaning "star"), also known as DOS-8 or the Service Module or SM (Russian: СМ). It provides all of the station's critical systems,[clarification needed] its addition rendered the station permanently habitable for the first time, adding life support for up to six crew and living quarters for two. Zvezda's DMS-R computer handles guidance, navigation and control for the entire space station. A second computer which performs the same functions will be installed in the Nauka module, FGB-2.

Destiny is the primary research facility for United States payloads aboard the ISS. In 2011, NASA solicited proposals for a not-for-profit group to manage all American science on the station which does not relate to manned exploration. The module houses 24 International Standard Payload Racks, some of which are used for environmental systems and crew daily living equipment. Destiny also serves as the mounting point for the station's Truss Structure.

Quest is the only USOS airlock, Quest hosts spacewalks with both United States EMU and Russian Orlan spacesuits. Quest consists of two segments; the equipment lock, that stores spacesuits and equipment, and the crew lock, from which astronauts can exit into space. This module has a separately controlled atmosphere. Crew sleep in this module, breathing a low nitrogen mixture the night before scheduled EVAs, to avoid decompression sickness (known as "the bends") in the low pressure suits.

Pirs (Russian: Пирс, meaning "pier"), (Russian: Стыковочный отсек), "docking module", SO-1 or DC-1 (docking compartment), and Poisk (Russian: По́иск; lit. Search), also known as the Mini-Research Module 2 (MRM 2), Малый исследовательский модуль 2, or МИМ 2. Pirs and Poisk are Russian airlock modules. Each of these modules have 2 identical hatches (....) Pirs is used to store, service, and refurbish Russian Orlan suits and provides contingency entry for crew using the slightly bulkier American suits. The outermost docking ports on both airlocks allow docking of Soyuz and Progress spacecraft, and the automatic transfer of propellants to and from storage on the ROS.

Harmony is the second of the station's node modules and the utility hub of the USOS. The module contains four racks that provide electrical power, bus electronic data, and acts as a central connecting point for several other components via its six Common Berthing Mechanisms (CBMs). The European Columbus and Japanese Kibō laboratories are permanently berthed to two of the radial ports, the other two can used for the HTV. American Shuttle Orbiters docked with the ISS via PMA-2, attached to the forward port. Tranquility is the third and last of the station's US nodes, it contains an additional life support system to recycle waste water for crew use and supplements oxygen generation. Three of the four berthing locations are not used. One location has the cupola installed, and one has the docking port adapter installed.

Columbus, the primary research facility for European payloads aboard the ISS, provides a generic laboratory as well as facilities specifically designed for biology, biomedical research and fluid physics.

Kibō (Japanese: "hope") is the largest single ISS module. This laboratory is used to carry out research in space medicine, biology, Earth observations, materials production, biotechnology, communications research, and has facilities for growing plants and fish. During August 2011, an observatory mounted on Kibō, which utilises the ISS's orbital motion to image the whole sky in the X-ray spectrum, detected for the first time the moment a star was swallowed by a black hole.

Cupola is a seven window observatory, used to view Earth and docking spacecraft. Its name derives from the Italian word cupola, which means "dome".

Rassvet (Russian: Рассве́т; lit. "dawn"), also known as the Mini-Research Module 1 (MRM-1) (Russian: Ма́лый иссле́довательский модуль, МИМ 1) and formerly known as the Docking Cargo Module (DCM), is similar in design to the Mir Docking Module launched on STS-74 in 1995. Rassvet is primarily used for cargo storage and as a docking port for visiting spacecraft.

Leonardo Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) is a storage module attached to the Unity node.[99] The three NASA Space Shuttle MPLM cargo containers Leonardo, Raffaello and Donatello, were built for NASA in Turin, Italy by Alcatel Alenia Space, now Thales Alenia Space.[100]

A number of additional modules are scheduled for future deployment.

Cost: The ISS is arguably the most expensive single item ever constructed. As of 2010 the cost is estimated to be $150 billion. It includes NASA's budget of $58.7 billion for the station from 1985 to 2015 ($72.4 billion dollars in 2010), Russia's $12 billion ISS budget, Europe's $5 billion, Japan's $5 billion, and Canada's $2 billion plus the cost of 36 shuttle flights to build the station—estimated at $1.4 billion each, $50.4 billion. Assuming 20,000 person-days of use from 2000 to 2015 by two to six-person crews, each person-day would cost $7.5 million, less than half the inflation adjusted $19.6 million ($5.5 million before inflation) per person-day of Skylab.

Source: Wikipedia