This list of space stations is grouped by countries responsible for their operations. The space stations where multiple countries are responsible for their operations are listed separately. Planned and canceled space stations are excluded from this list.
Never crewed, prototype | |
‡ | Never crewed, non-prototype |
Name | Entity | Program | Crew size | Launch date | Reentry date | Days in orbit | Days occu- pied | Total crew and visitors | Number of crewed visits | Number of robotic visits | Mass (* = at launch) | Pressurized volume |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tiangong-1 | CMSA | Tiangong | 3 [1] | 29 September 2011 [2] | 2 April 2018 [3] | 2377 | 25 [4] | 6 [4] [5] | 2 [4] | 1 [6] | 8,506 kg (18,753 lb) [7] | 15 m3 (530 cu ft) [8] |
Tiangong-2 | CMSA | 2 | 15 September 2016 | 19 July 2019 | 1037 | 26 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8,506 kg (18,753 lb) [7] | 15 m3 (530 cu ft) [8] | |
Tiangong space station | 3 | 29 April 2021 | in orbit | 1031 | 901 | 17 | 6 | 7 | 22,600 kg (49,800 lb) | 110 m3 (3,880 cu ft) (planned) |
Name | Entity | Program | Crew size | Launch date | Reentry date | 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 [9] | 3 [10] | 19 April 1971 [11] | 11 October 1971 [12] | 175 | 24 [13] | 6 [14] | 2 [14] | 0 [14] | 18,425 kg (40,620 lb) [11] | 100 m3 (3,500 cu ft) [15] |
DOS-2 ‡ | USSR | DOS [16] | — [lower-alpha 1] | 29 July 1972 [11] [17] | 29 July 1972 | failed to reach orbit | — | — | — | — | 18,000 kg (40,000 lb) [18] | — |
Salyut 2 ‡ | USSR | Almaz [17] | — [lower-alpha 1] | 3 April 1973 [17] | 16 April 1973 [17] | 13 [17] | — | — | — | — | 18,500 kg (40,800 lb) [19] | — |
Kosmos 557 ‡ | USSR | DOS [20] | — [lower-alpha 1] | 11 May 1973 [21] | 22 May 1973 [22] | 11 | — | — | — | — | 19,400 kg (42,800 lb) [18] | — |
Salyut 3 | USSR | Almaz [9] | 2 [23] | 25 May 1974 [24] | 24 January 1975 [25] | 213 | 15 [26] | 2 [26] | 1 [26] | 0 | 18,900 kg (41,700 lb)* [27] | 90 m3 (3,200 cu ft) [20] |
Salyut 4 | USSR | DOS [28] | 2 [29] | 26 December 1974 [30] | 3 February 1977 [30] | 770 [30] | 92 [31] | 4 [31] | 2 [31] [32] | 1 [31] | 18,900 kg (41,700 lb) [20] * | 90 m3 (3,200 cu ft) [20] |
Salyut 5 | USSR | Almaz [28] | 2 [33] | 22 June 1976 [34] | 8 August 1977 [35] | 412 | 67 [36] | 4 [36] | 3 [36] | 0 [36] | 19,000 kg (42,000 lb) [20] * | 100 m3 (3,500 cu ft) [20] |
Salyut 6 | USSR | DOS [28] [37] | 2 [38] | 29 September 1977 [38] | 29 July 1982 [39] | 1764 | 683 [40] | 33 [40] | 16 [40] | 14 [40] | 19,000 kg (42,000 lb) [41] | 90 m3 (3,200 cu ft) [42] |
Salyut 7 | USSR | 3 [43] | 19 April 1982 [44] | 7 February 1991 [44] | 3216 [44] | 861 [43] | 22 [43] | 10 [43] | 15 [43] | 19,000 kg (42,000 lb) [45] | 90 m3 (3,200 cu ft) [20] | |
Mir |
| 3 [46] | 19 February 1986 [47] [lower-alpha 2] | 23 March 2001 [48] [47] | 5511 [47] | 4594 [49] | 125 [49] | 39 [50] | 68 [49] | 129,700 kg (285,900 lb) [51] | 350 m3 (12,400 cu ft) [52] |
Name | Entity | Program | Crew size | Launch date | Reentry date | Days in orbit | Days occu- pied | Total crew and visitors | Number of crewed visits | Number of robotic visits | Mass (* = at launch) | Pressurized volume |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
OPS 0855 | USAF | MOL | — | 3 November 1966 [53] | 9 January 1967 [53] | 67 | — | — | — | — | 9,680 kg (21,340 lb) | 11.3 m3 (400 cu ft) |
Skylab | NASA | Skylab [54] | 3 [55] | 14 May 1973 [56] | 11 July 1979 [48] | 2249 | 171 [57] | 9 [58] | 3 [59] | 0 [60] | 77,088 kg (169,950 lb) [61] | 360 m3 (12,700 cu ft) [62] |
Genesis I | Bigelow Aerospace | — | 12 July 2006 [63] | (In Orbit) | 6436 | — | — | — | — | 1,360 kg (3,000 lb) [64] | 11.5 m3 (410 cu ft) [65] | |
Genesis II | Bigelow Aerospace | — | 28 June 2007 [63] | (In Orbit) | 6085 | — | — | — | — | 1,360 kg (3,000 lb) [64] | 11.5 m3 (406 cu ft) [65] |
Extravehicular activity (EVA) is any activity done by an astronaut in outer space outside a spacecraft. In the absence of a breathable Earthlike atmosphere, the astronaut is completely reliant on a space suit for environmental support. EVA includes spacewalks and lunar or planetary surface exploration. In a stand-up EVA (SEVA), an astronaut stands through an open hatch but does not fully leave the spacecraft. EVAs have been conducted by the Soviet Union/Russia, the United States, Canada, the European Space Agency and China.
A 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. An orbital station or an orbital space station is an artificial satellite. 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.
The Salyut programme was the first space station programme, undertaken by the Soviet Union. It involved a series of four crewed scientific research space stations and two crewed military reconnaissance space stations over a period of 15 years, from 1971 to 1986. Two other Salyut launches failed. In one respect, Salyut had the task of carrying out long-term research into the problems of living in space and a variety of astronomical, biological and Earth-resources experiments, and on the other hand the USSR used this civilian programme as a cover for the highly secretive military Almaz stations, which flew under the Salyut designation. Salyut 1, the first station in the programme, became the world's first crewed space station.
Human spaceflight programs have been conducted, started, or planned by multiple countries and companies. Until the 21st century, human spaceflight programs were sponsored exclusively by governments, through either the military or civilian space agencies. With the launch of the privately funded SpaceShipOne in 2004, a new category of human spaceflight programs – commercial human spaceflight – arrived. By the end of 2022, three countries and one private company (SpaceX) had successfully launched humans to Earth orbit, and two private companies had launched humans on a suborbital trajectory.
Soyuz 11 was the only crewed mission to board the world's first space station, Salyut 1. The crew, Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov, and Viktor Patsayev, arrived at the space station on 7 June 1971, and departed on 29 June 1971. The mission ended in disaster when the crew capsule depressurised during preparations for re-entry, killing the three-person crew. The three crew members of Soyuz 11 are the only humans to have died in space.
Salyut 2 (OPS-1) was a Soviet space station which was launched in 1973 as part of the Salyut programme. It was the first Almaz military space station to fly. Within two weeks of its launch, the station had lost altitude control and depressurized, leaving it unusable. Its orbit decayed and it re-entered the atmosphere on 28 May 1973, without any crews having visited it.
Salyut 5, also known as OPS-3, was a Soviet space station. Launched in 1976 as part of the Salyut programme, it was the third and last Almaz space station to be launched for the Soviet military. Two Soyuz missions visited the station, each crewed by two cosmonauts. A third Soyuz mission attempted to visit the station, but failed to dock, whilst a fourth mission was planned but never launched.
Salyut 6, DOS-5, was a Soviet orbital space station, the eighth station of the Salyut programme. It was launched on 29 September 1977 by a Proton rocket. Salyut 6 was the first space station to receive large numbers of crewed and uncrewed spacecraft for human habitation, crew transfer, international participation and resupply, establishing precedents for station life and operations which were enhanced on Mir and the International Space Station.
The Almaz program was a highly secret Soviet military space station program, begun in the early 1960s.
Soyuz T-6 was a human spaceflight to Earth orbit to the Salyut 7 space station in 1982. Along with two Soviet cosmonauts, the crew included a Frenchman, Jean-Loup Chrétien.
The Shuttle–Mir program was a collaborative 11-mission space program between Russia and the United States that involved American Space Shuttles visiting the Russian space station Mir, Russian cosmonauts flying on the Shuttle, and an American astronaut flying aboard a Soyuz spacecraft to engage in long-duration expeditions aboard Mir.
A space rendezvous is a set of orbital maneuvers during which two spacecraft, one of which is often a space station, arrive at the same orbit and approach to a very close distance. Rendezvous requires a precise match of the orbital velocities and position vectors of the two spacecraft, allowing them to remain at a constant distance through orbital station-keeping. Rendezvous may or may not be followed by docking or berthing, procedures which bring the spacecraft into physical contact and create a link between them.
Progress 1, was a Soviet unmanned Progress cargo spacecraft which was launched in 1978 to resupply the Salyut 6 space station. It was the maiden flight of the Progress spacecraft, and used the Progress 7K-TG configuration. It carried supplies for the EO-1 crew aboard Salyut 6, which consisted of Soviet cosmonauts Yuri Romanenko and Georgy Grechko. The cargo carried by Progress 1 also included equipment for conducting scientific research, and fuel for adjusting the station's orbit and performing manoeuvres.
Kvant-1 (37KE) was the first module to be attached in 1987 to the Mir Core Module, which formed the core of the Soviet space station Mir. It remained attached to Mir until the entire space station was deorbited in 2001.
Skylab B was a proposed second US space station similar to Skylab that was planned to be launched by NASA for different purposes, mostly involving the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project, but was canceled due to lack of funding. Two Skylab modules were built in 1970 by McDonnell Douglas for the Skylab program, originally the Apollo Applications Program. The first was launched in 1973 and the other put in storage, while NASA considered how to use the remaining assets from Apollo.
DOS-2 was a space station, launched as part of the Salyut programme, which was lost in a launch failure on 29 July 1972, when the failure of the second stage of its Proton-K launch vehicle prevented the station from achieving orbit. It instead fell into the Pacific Ocean. The station, which would have been given the designation Salyut 2 had it reached orbit, was structurally identical to Salyut 1, as it had been assembled as a backup unit for that station. Four teams of cosmonauts were formed to crew the station, of which two would have flown:
Progress M1-5 was the Progress spacecraft which was launched by Russia in 2001 to deorbit the fifteen-year-old Mir space station in a controlled fashion over a remote ocean area, far away from shipping lanes - otherwise Mir's orbit would have decayed uncontrolled over time, with debris potentially landing in a populated area. The Russian Aviation and Space Agency, Rosaviakosmos, was responsible for the mission.
Progress 2 was an unmanned Progress cargo spacecraft launched by the Soviet Union in 1978 to resupply the Salyut 6 space station. It used the Progress 7K-TG configuration, and was the second Progress mission to Salyut 6. It carried supplies for the EO-2 crew aboard Salyut 6, as well as equipment for conducting scientific research, and fuel for adjusting the station's orbit and performing manoeuvres.