Aka ISS, the international space station had it’s first part orbiting Earth in 1998 and currently it’s the largest artificial sattelite made by humans, with the size of a American football field. Its ‘building’ endet in 2011, whn the last component was sent in space.
Eighteen years ago, in 2000, the first manned mission was sent to the ISS. Currently, there are over 50 expeditions and counting, with man and women who stay on the station month.
Like you thought, on the ISS are astronauts from not only American agencies like NASA. There is ESA, JAXA (European Space Agency, Japanese Space Agency), the Russian space agency and others.
But you probably think, how can they survive so long in space?
First, they have oxygen tanks, which are vital for the crew. Space-x regularly sends these, but to save money for the transportation, there are on ISS complex air recycling systems.
Then we have the water. Astronauts need water for both drinking and preparing some kinds of food. NASA sends them water from Earth, but they also recycle used water like sweat or the water vapors that condensate on the walls of the station.
The food can be hydrated in water, or just taken out of the package and eaten. The food is also sent by NASA and it is actually delicious!
In another post we will talk about what the astronauts do there and how dangerous is to live on the station.
Space Learning Web 
Engineers have developed technologies to convert solar energy to electrical power efficiently. Solar arrays that convert energy to electricity on the International Space Station are made of thousands of solar cells, made from purified chunks of the element silicon. These cells directly convert light to electricity using a process called photovoltaics.
The solar arrays produce more power than the station needs at one time for station systems and experiments. When the station is in sunlight, about 60 percent of the electricity that the solar arrays generate is used to charge the station’s batteries. The batteries power the station when it is not in the sun.
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