International Space Station Construction RESUMES

FACTBOX-Five facts about International Space Station

Aug 21 (Reuters) - The launch on Sunday of the U.S. space shuttle Atlantis marks the resumption of the construction of the International Space Station after a hiatus of more than three years.

The following are a few facts about the space station, which is billed as the largest and most complex international scientific project in human history:

* Construction of the $100 billion International Space Station began in 1998 with the launch of the Russian-built Zarya control module, and the U.S.-built Unity module.

* Fifteen countries are cooperating on the project. They are the United States, Canada, Japan, Russia and 11 participating member nations of the European Space Agency. In addition, Brazil and Italy have signed on as payload participants.

* When completed, the station will mass almost one million pounds (453,600 kg), be larger than a five-bedroom house with an internal volume of 33,023 cubic feet (935 cubic metres), and measure 360 feet (110 metres) wide by 290 feet (88 metres) long. It will have almost an acre (0.4 hectare) of solar panels and six state-of-the-art laboratories.

* Construction, once complete, will have involved around 100 space flights on five different types of launch vehicles. Astronauts will have made more than 140 spacewalks, totaling nearly 800 hours, 250 miles (402 km) above the Earth.

* U.S. space agency NASA plans to focus its station-based research efforts on developing technologies for space exploration. Scientists from the other countries hope their experiments on the station will lead to new drugs for cancer, diabetes, emphysema and immune system disorders through protein crystal studies and by growing tissue cells in microgravity. They also hope to develop new metal alloys and to learn more about phenomena down on Earth, such as hurricanes.