ISS Modules

First ISS module — early power, propulsion, and storage · 1998-11-20

Zarya, the Functional Cargo Block, was the first module of the International Space Station, providing early power and propulsion. It was built in Russia but funded by and belongs to the United States.

Node 1 — connecting hub · 1998-12-04

Unity (Node 1) was the first US-built ISS module, a connecting node linking the Russian and US segments of the station.

Service module — crew quarters and life support · 2000-07-12

Zvezda, the Service Module, provided the early ISS with life support, crew quarters, and propulsion, and was the structural heart of the Russian segment.

United States research laboratory · 2001-02-07

Destiny is the primary research laboratory of the US segment of the ISS, used for microgravity science across many disciplines.

Airlock for US spacewalks · 2001-07-12

Quest is the ISS joint airlock, from which US spacewalks (EVAs) are staged.

Russian docking compartment and airlock · 2001-09-14

Pirs was a Russian docking compartment and airlock; it was undocked and deorbited in 2021 to make room for the Nauka module.

Node 2 — utility hub and docking · 2007-10-23

Harmony (Node 2) is a connecting module that provides docking ports for visiting crewed spacecraft and links the US, European, and Japanese laboratories.

European research laboratory · 2008-02-07

Columbus is ESA's research laboratory on the ISS, hosting European and international microgravity experiments.

Japanese research laboratory with external platform · 2008

Kibo, meaning 'hope', is JAXA's laboratory complex on the ISS — the station's largest module, with an external platform for experiments exposed to space.

Node 3 — life support and exercise · 2010-02-08

Tranquility (Node 3) houses much of the ISS life-support equipment and exercise machines, and connects to the Cupola.

Observation module · 2010-02-08

The Cupola is a seven-windowed observation module built by ESA, used for Earth observation and to control the station's robotic arm.

Russian docking and storage module · 2010-05-14

Rassvet is a small Russian module providing docking and storage on the ISS.

Permanent storage module · 2011-02-24

Leonardo, originally a reusable cargo carrier built by the Italian Space Agency, was permanently attached to the ISS as a storage module.

Russian docking module and airlock · 2009-11-10

Poisk is a Russian module providing a docking port and an airlock for Russian-segment spacewalks.

Expandable habitat technology demonstrator · 2016-04-08

BEAM is an expandable (inflatable) module attached to the ISS to demonstrate expandable habitat technology in orbit, building on Bigelow's Genesis demonstrators.

Russian multipurpose laboratory · 2021-07-21

Nauka is a Russian multipurpose laboratory module that replaced the Pirs compartment, adding research space, crew quarters, and an airlock.

Russian docking node · 2021-11-24

Prichal is a spherical Russian nodal module with multiple docking ports, attached to Nauka.