International Space Station (ISS), October 2018. The ISS, built in stages since 1998, is a collaborative project between the national space agencies of the USA, Canada, Japan, Russia and Europe. It is a modular structure, consisting of a number of modules, trusses and arrays of solar panels. The ISS operates as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory, with experiments conducted by crew members. Orbiting at an altitude of around 360 kilometres, it has been crewed since 2000, and will remain operational until at least 2020. Since 2011, it has been supplied by Soyuz and Progress spacecraft, and various automated transfer vehicles. Photographed on 4 October 2018, by Expedition 56 crew members from a Soyuz spacecraft after undocking