Why the International Space Station Is the Single Best Thing We Did

Published: Dec. 20, 2017, 7:59 a.m.

The International Space Station is one of the few nonstellar things up there that we can see from down here without instruments. It\u2019s a prefab home the size of a football field, 462 tons and more than $100 billion worth of pressurized roomlike modules and gleaming solar arrays, orbiting 250 miles above the surface of the Earth. Its flight path is available online, and you can find out when it will make a nighttime pass over your backyard.