International Space Station

In 1984 Pres­i­dent Ronald Rea­gan gave NASA the go-ahead to build a Space Sta­tion. A gen­er­a­tion lat­er, the Inter­na­tion­al Space Sta­tion is an estab­lished and high­ly suc­cess­ful research cen­tre in Earth orbit. The his­to­ry of this extra­or­di­nary project is a com­plex weave of pow­er­ful threads – polit­i­cal, diplo­mat­ic, finan­cial and tech­no­log­i­cal among them – but none is more fas­ci­nat­ing than the sto­ry of its design. This book pro­vides the first com­pre­hen­sive account of the Inter­na­tion­al Space Station’s con­cep­tion, devel­op­ment and assem­bly in space. As a high­ly acces­si­ble chron­i­cle of a com­plex piece of design and engi­neer­ing, it will appeal to read­ers far beyond the space field. 

NASA Astro­naut Nicole Stott, a vet­er­an of Inter­na­tion­al Space Sta­tion Expe­di­tions 20 and 21 and Shut­tle Mis­sions STS-128, STS-129 and STS-133, intro­duces the book with a per­son­al mem­oir – ​‘A Home in Space’. 

David Nixon is an archi­tect with a par­tic­u­lar inter­est in design­ing for space explo­ration. In 1978 he co-found­ed Future Sys­tems with Jan Kaplicky and was among a hand­ful of archi­tects invit­ed to work on the design of the Inter­na­tion­al Space Sta­tion. He lat­er estab­lished an office in Los Ange­les to focus on work across the space field. In 2000 he formed Astro­couri­er to devel­op minia­ture space­flight exper­i­ments for schools. This book is the result of sev­en years’ research. 

‘If you are a space fan, fas­ci­nat­ed by the kind of ven­ture the Inter­na­tion­al Space Sta­tion rep­re­sents, this book is an absolute must, full of juicy details and intrigu­ing insights.’
— Pop­u­lar Sci­ence, March 2016

‘This book should be essen­tial read­ing for a wide audi­ence – any­one who wants an insight into the field of human space­flight in gen­er­al, and the Inter­na­tion­al Space Sta­tion in par­tic­u­lar.’
— Mad­hu Thangavelu, Sky at Night, June 2016

‘Arguably the best book avail­able for a seri­ous and deeply detailed analy­sis of the ori­gin, evo­lu­tion, devel­op­ment and fab­ri­ca­tion of the largest inter­na­tion­al space endeav­or yet mount­ed.’
— David Bak­er, Space­flight, June 2016 

‘As a his­to­ry of the plan­ning, design, assem­bly and func­tion­ing of the Space Sta­tion, this book is unlike­ly to be sur­passed.’
— Andrew Crumey, Lit­er­ary Review, June 2016