International Space Station astronaut. Astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria working on the International Space Station (ISS). Some of the solar arrays on the ISS are seen over the Earth behind him. This was during Space Shuttle mission STS-92 (11th-24th October 2000), which added new modules to the ISS. The ISS is a collaboration between NASA, ESA, the Russian space agency, Canada, Japan and Brazil. When complete, it will be over four times larger than Mir, the Russian space station, and over 100 metres in length. It will orbit at an altitude of 400 kilometres. It is hoped to be completed in 2004.