Way back when, the Space Age was essentially a series of sprints in a feverish competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. The first satellite in orbit. The first man in space. The first landing on the moon. But starting more than a decade ago, the space race gave way to cooperation between the onetime Cold War foes, along with partners from other nations, in what has become an endurance event: the construction, maintenance, occupation, and operation of the International Space Station.
The first piece of what would become the space station--the Russian-built FGB, also called Zarya--lifted off from Earth on November 20, 1998. Looking something like a beetle in flight, the Zarya is seen here two weeks later from the approaching space shuttle Endeavour, which would deliver the second piece, the Unity module.
Photo by NASA
Caption by
Jonathan Skillings
