Longest lasting space station

The longest-lasting space station is the International Space Station (ISS). The first habitable configuration of the ISS – which included the Unity, Zarya and Zvezda modules, as well as the Z1 Truss – was completed on 19 October 2000. The station is still operational as of 19 October 2025, 25 years later.

The ISS surpassed the previous record, set by the Soviet/Russian space station Mir, in December 2015. Mir was in orbit for 15 years 31 days (though not continuously occupied during that time). The ISS has been continuously occupied since 2 November 2000.

The ISS has been perpetually under construction since the launch of the Russian-built Zarya ("Dawn") module on 20 November 1998. It today comprises 16 pressurized modules, which range from airlock modules the size of a small car to shipping-container-sized science laboratories. These pressurized modules are connected to a 109-m (357-ft 6-in) truss, which holds the station's eight 34-m x 12-m (112-ft x 39-ft) solar arrays and various other bits of equipment.