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The station has been continuously occupied for &1000000000000001100000011 years and &10000000000000117000000117 days having exceeded the previous record of almost 10 years (or 3,644 days) held by Mir, in 2010. The station is serviced by Soyuz spacecraft, Progress spacecraft, the Automated Transfer Vehicle, the H-II Transfer Vehicle,[14] and formerly the Space Shuttle. It has been visited by astronauts and cosmonauts from 15 different nations.[15]
The ISS programme is a joint project between five participating space agencies, the American NASA, the Russian RKA, the Japanese JAXA, the European ESA, and the Canadian CSA.[14][16] The ownership and use of the space station is established by intergovernmental treaties and agreements.[17] The station is divided into two sections, the Russian orbital segment (ROS) and the United States orbital segment (USOS), which is shared by many nations. The ISS is maintained at an orbital altitude of between 330 km (205 mi) and 410 km (255 mi). It completes 15.7 orbits per day.[18] The ISS is expected to remain in operation until at least 2020, and potentially to 2028.[19][20]