List of space stations

The International Space Station in front of the Earth. This image was taken by Space Shuttle Discovery while pulling away during STS-119.
Skylab viewed from the command module of Skylab 2
These paragraphs are an excerpt from Space station[edit]

A space station, also known as an orbital station or an orbital space station, is a spacecraft capable of supporting a human crew in orbit for an extended period of time, and is therefore a type of space habitat. It lacks major propulsion or landing systems. Stations must have docking ports to allow other spacecraft to dock to transfer crew and supplies.

The purpose of maintaining an orbital outpost varies depending on the program. Space stations have most often been launched for scientific purposes, but military launches have also occurred. As of 2021, one fully operational and permanently inhabited space station is in low Earth orbit: the International Space Station (ISS), which is used to study the effects of spaceflight on the human body as well as to provide a location to conduct a greater number and longer length of scientific studies than is possible on other space vehicles. China, India, Russia, and the U.S., as well as Bigelow Aerospace and Axiom Space, are all planning other stations for the coming decades.

Past stations

These stations have re-entered the atmosphere and disintegrated.

The Soviet Union ran two programs simultaneously in the 1970s, both of which were called Salyut publicly. The Long Duration Orbital Station (DOS) program was intended for scientific research into spaceflight. The Almaz program was a secret military program that tested space reconnaissance.[1]

      = Never crewed

Name Entity Program Crew
size		 Launched Reentered Days
in orbit		 Days
occu-
pied		 Total crew
and visitors		 Number of
crewed visits		 Number of
robotic visits		 Mass
(* = at launch)		 Pressurized volume
Salyut 1  USSR DOS[2] 3[3] 19 April 1971[4] 11 October 1971[5] 175 24[6] 6[7] 2[7] 0[7] 18,425 kg (40,620 lb)[4] 100 m3 (3,500 cu ft)[8]
DOS-2 USSR DOS[9] —[lower-alpha 1] 29 July 1972[4][10] 29 July 1972 failed to reach orbit — — — — 18,000 kg (40,000 lb)[11] —
Salyut 2 USSR Almaz[10] —[lower-alpha 1] 3 April 1973[10] 16 April 1973[10] 13[10] — — — — 18,500 kg (40,800 lb)[12] —
Kosmos 557 USSR DOS[13] —[lower-alpha 1] 11 May 1973[14] 22 May 1973[15] 11 — — — — 19,400 kg (42,800 lb)[11] —
Skylab NASA Skylab[16] 3[17] 14 May 1973[18] 11 July 1979[19] 2249 171 9[20] 3[21] 0[22] 77,088 kg (169,950 lb)[23] 360 m3 (12,700 cu ft)[24]
Salyut 3 USSR Almaz[2] 2[25] 25 May 1974[26] 24 January 1975[27] 213 15[28] 2[28] 1[28] 0 18,900 kg (41,700 lb)*[29] 90 m3 (3,200 cu ft)[13]
Salyut 4 USSR DOS[30] 2[31] 26 December 1974[32] 3 February 1977[32] 770[32] 92[33] 4[33] 2[33][34] 1[33] 18,900 kg (41,700 lb)[13]* 90 m3 (3,200 cu ft)[13]
Salyut 5 USSR Almaz[30] 2[35] 22 June 1976[36] 8 August 1977[37] 412 67[38] 4[38] 3[38] 0[38] 19,000 kg (42,000 lb)[13]* 100 m3 (3,500 cu ft)[13]
Salyut 6 USSR DOS[30][39] 2[40] 29 September 1977[40] 29 July 1982[41] 1764 683[42] 33[42] 16[42] 14[42] 19,000 kg (42,000 lb)[43] 90 m3 (3,200 cu ft)[44]
Salyut 7 USSR 3[45] 19 April 1982[46] 7 February 1991[46] 3216[46] 861[45] 22[45] 10[45] 15[45] 19,000 kg (42,000 lb)[47] 90 m3 (3,200 cu ft)[13]
Mir
3[48] 19 February 1986[49][lower-alpha 2] 23 March 2001[19][49] 5511[49] 4594[50] 125[50] 39[51] 68[50] 129,700 kg (285,900 lb)[52] 350 m3 (12,400 cu ft)[53]
Tiangong-1 CNSA Tiangong 3[54] 29 September 2011[55][56] 2 April 2018[57] 2377 25[58] 6[58][59] 2[58] 1[60] 8,506 kg (18,753 lb)[61] 15 m3 (530 cu ft)[62]
Tiangong-2 CNSA 2 15 September 2016 19 July 2019 1037 26 2 1 1 8,506 kg (18,753 lb)[61] 15 m3 (530 cu ft)[62]

Note: Prototypes and various parts of Chinese, Japanese, and Russian, U.S. programs are in orbit, but not necessarily operational.

Prototypes

These stations and parts are prototypes; they only exist as testing platforms and will never be crewed. OPS 0855 was part of a cancelled Manned Orbiting Laboratory project by the United States, while the Genesis stations were launched privately.

Name Entity Program Launched Reentered Days in orbit Mass Pressurized volume
OPS 0855 USAF MOL 3 November 1966[63] 9 January 1967[63] 67 9,680 kg (21,340 lb) 11.3 m3 (400 cu ft)
Genesis I Bigelow Aerospace 12 July 2006[64] (In Orbit) 5324 1,360 kg (3,000 lb)[65] 11.5 m3 (410 cu ft)[66]
Genesis II Bigelow Aerospace 28 June 2007[64] (In Orbit) 4973 1,360 kg (3,000 lb)[65] 11.5 m3 (406 cu ft)[66]

Operational stations

As of 2021, only one station is orbiting Earth with life support system in place and fully operational.

Name Entity Crew size Launched Days in orbit[lower-alpha 3] Days
occupied		 Total crew
and visitors		 Crewed
visits		 Robotic
visits		 Mass Pressurized
volume
International Space Station
7[67] 20 November 1998[67][lower-alpha 2] 8115 7404[68] 230[69] 88 [70] 94 [70] 419,725 kg (925,335 lb)[71] 915.6 m3 (32,300 cu ft)[72]

Planned and proposed

These space stations have been announced by their host entity and are currently in planning, development or production. The launch date listed here may change as more information becomes available.

Name Entity Program Crew size Launch date Remarks
Large modular space station CNSA Tiangong
3
 2021–2022[73]
Space Complex Alpha Bigelow Aerospace Bigelow Commercial Space Station
12[74]
 TBD
Space Complex Bravo
24[75]
 TBD
Lunar Gateway NASA
ESA
CSA
JAXA		 Artemis
4
 2024[76] Intended to serve as a science platform and as a staging area for the lunar landings of NASA's Artemis program and follow-on human mission to Mars.
Axiom Station Axiom Space
TBD
 2020s Axiom and a team of companies won NASA's NextSTEP award to develop a node module to add to the International Space Station by the second half of 2024, which Axiom plans to follow with two additional modules and a power and thermal module that will eventually allow the set of modules to detach from the ISS (about a year before ISS's end of life) and continuously operate as a stand-alone space station.[77][78]
TBD ISRO Indian Human Spaceflight Programme
3
 ~2030[79][80][81][82] ISRO chairman K. Sivan announced in 2019 that India will not join the International Space Station and will instead build a 20 tonne space station on its own.[83] It is intended to be built in the next 5–7 years,[84]
Lunar Orbital Station[85]
(LOS)		 Roscosmos
TBD
 after 2030[86]
Stasiun Luar Angkasa Republik Indonesia (SLARI) LAPAN
TBD
 2030-2035[87]

Canceled projects
The interior of Skylab B, on display at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum

Most of these stations were canceled due to financial difficulties. However, Mir-2 was merged to Freedom and formed the basis of the International Space Station.

Name Entity Crew size Remarks
Manned Orbiting Laboratory 1–7 NASA 2[88] Canceled due to excessive costs in 1969[89]
Skylab B NASA 3[90] Constructed, but launch canceled due to lack of funding.[91] Now a museum piece.
OPS-4 USSR Constructed but never launched, due to cancellation of the Almaz program.
Freedom NASA 14–16[92] Merged to form the basis of the International Space Station
Mir-2 USSR
Roscosmos		 2[93]
Galaxy Bigelow Aerospace Robotic[94] Canceled due to rising costs and ability to ground test key Galaxy subsystems[95]
Almaz commercial Excalibur Almaz 4 or more Lack of funds.
OPSEK Roscosmos More than 2 Canceled in 2017. OPSEK components will instead remain attached to the ISS.

Timeline
Tiangong 2Tiangong 1Genesis IIGenesis IInternational Space StationMirSalyut 7Salyut 6Salyut 5Salyut 4Salyut 3SkylabKosmos 557Salyut 2DOS-2Salyut 1OPS 0855
The image above contains clickable links
Timeline of previous and current space stations. Operational stations in blue, deorbited stations in green, prototype stations in grey.

See also

Notes
  1. The USSR intended to crew these stations with 2 men, however they re-entered the atmosphere before the cosmonauts were launched.
  2. Launch date of the initial module. Additional modules for this station were launched later.
  3. Correct as of 7 February 2021

References
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