Completing the Station

Over the following decade, Space Shuttles and Russian launch vehicles added scientific laboratories, a truss structure with solar arrays and a robotic arm to the station. Major construction ended in 2011 with the final Space Shuttle flights.

Zarya and Unity were joined by the American laboratory Destiny (2001), the European Columbus module (2008), the Japanese Kibo complex (delivered in three parts, 2008–2009) and the nodes Harmony (2007) and Tranquility with the Cupola observation module (2010). The Canadian Canadarm2 robotic arm (2001) made it possible to assemble large components without requiring a spacewalk for every operation.

The last Space Shuttle flight to the station (STS-135, July 2011) closed the twenty-year era of the American Space Shuttle and, with it, the main assembly phase of the ISS.