International Space Station

High, high up, I float above your head. I look down and see the big, beautiful world. It looks like a giant blue and white marble spinning in the dark. I fly around and around it, all day and all night. When the sun shines on me, I sparkle. When you look up at the night sky, I look like a bright star zipping past all the others. I am not a star, though. I am a special house that flies. I am the International Space Station, a house in the stars. It is so quiet and peaceful up here.

A long, long time ago, friends from all around the world had a big idea. They said, "Let's build a home in space where we can work together.". So they started building me. On a special day, November 20th, 1998, the very first piece of me was sent up into the sky on a big, loud rocket that went WHOOSH. More and more pieces followed, like giant building blocks floating in the quiet of space. Brave friends called astronauts put on special white spacesuits and helmets. They floated outside to connect all my pieces together. Click. Clack. It was like a puzzle in the sky. They worked very carefully, piece by piece, until I was a big, strong, and cozy home ready for visitors to come live with me.

Soon, my first friends came to live with me. On November 2nd, 2000, my doors opened for the very first time. Astronauts came from many different countries to be my family in space. They float inside me because there is no gravity to hold them down. It looks like so much fun. They work together as a team every single day. They do amazing experiments, like learning how to grow little green plants without any soil. They also look out my windows and take beautiful pictures of the clouds, oceans, and sparkling city lights on Earth below. I am a happy home for friendship and learning.

I am still flying high, high above you right now. I am a home in the sky where friends from all over the world learn and dream together. The next time you are outside at night, look up at the twinkling stars. If you see one bright light moving steadily across the sky, that might be me. Wave hello. I will be waving back.