On Dec. 6, 1998, astronauts on the space shuttle Endeavour formally started the building of the International Space Station. Objective STS-88 was the first shuttle bus mission to the space station. It brought along the very first American element of the orbiting lab, an 18-foot-long module called the Unity Node, or Node 1. The Unity node (in payload bay at bottom) is connected to the International Space Stations (ISS) Russian-built Zarya Control Module (top) during the STS-88 flight aboard NASAs Endeavour area shuttle bus in December 1998 and was the second major piece to join the orbital outpost. (Image credit: NASA) By the time the Unity node went to area, Russias very first spaceport station element, the Zarya module, had currently been in orbit for a couple weeks. The STS-88 team brought Unity to Zarya and connected the 2 parts in orbit.Catch up on our whole “On This Day In Space” series on YouTube with this playlist. On This Day in Space Archive! Still not sufficient space? Do not forget to have a look at our Space Image of the Day, and on the weekends our Best Space Photos and Top Space News Stories of the week. Email Hanneke Weitering at [email protected] or follow her @hannekescience. Follow us @Spacedotcom and on Facebook..
