International Space Station Comes Together (animation)

It’s quite astonishing that all planned supply ships will actually supply the ISS.

The good old Russian Progress for cargo, the European ATV for cargo and boosting the station and the Japanese HTV (not actually in this animation) for cargo (both pressurized and unpressurized) as well as International Standard Payload Racks (the ATV can’t bring them up because the ATV docks on the Russian part of the station and the Payload Racks don’t fit through the Russian hatches).

All already had at least one successful mission, all will fly again – which is kinda important, now that the Space Shuttle retires.

The only way to bring people up there will be Soyuz, though. Cheap and extremely reliable Soyuz but it would still be great to have some sort of alternative soon.

It's hard to believe the ISS is 12 years old this year. This is a prime example of what the world can achieve when we work together. Amazing.