Space station

A space station is a man-made structure that is in orbit of the Earth and is designed for people to live on. A space station is distinguished from other manned space vehicles by its lack of propulsion or landing facilities - instead, other vehicles are used as transport to and from the station. Space stations are designed for medium-term living in orbit, for periods of some months.

Past and present space stations:

• Salyut
• Skylab
• Mir
• International Space Station (ISS)

Some space station designs have been proposed which are intended as long-term space habitats for large numbers of people, essentially "cities in space" where people would make their homes. Thus far all such designs are only hypothetical, and have never been seriously considered for actual implementation.