The International Space Station (ISS) is a permanently manned earth-orbiting complex where astronauts carry out research into a wide range of scientific activities. It comprises modules built in the USA, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada. Author David Baker examines how the ISS was built, the logistics modules and freighters operated by its user nations, how the ISS works as an integrated facility, life on board, what the ISS does, the research carried out and who benefits.
Dr. David Baker worked with NASA on the Gemini, Apollo and Shuttle programmes between 1965 and 1990. He has written more than 100 books on space flight, aviation and military technology. In October 2017 he received the American Astronautical Society's Frederick I. Ordway III award "for a sustained excellence in space coverage, through books, articles, as well as engagement in the early US space program." Dr. Baker is the author of the Haynes NASA Space Shuttle Manual, International Space Station Manual, NASA Mars Rovers Manual, Apollo 13 Manual, Soyuz Manual, Rocket Manual and Hubble Space Telescope Manual. David is currently the Editor of Spaceflight, the monthly space news magazine of the British Interplanetary Society, of which he is a Fellow, and he lives in East Sussex.