Past stations
These stations have re-entered the atmosphere and disintegrated.
The Soviet Union ran two programs simultaneously in the 1970s, both of which were called
Salyut publicly. The Long Duration Orbital Station (DOS) program was intended for scientific research into spaceflight. The
Almaz
The Almaz (russian: Алмаз, lit=Diamond) program was a highly secret Soviet military space station program, begun in the early 1960s.
Three crewed military reconnaissance stations were launched between 1973 and 1976: Salyut 2, Salyut 3 a ...
program was a secret military program that tested
space reconnaissance.
= Never crewed
Prototypes
These stations are prototypes; they only exist as testing platforms and were never intended to be crewed. OPS 0855 was part of a cancelled
Manned Orbiting Laboratory
The Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) was part of the United States Air Force (USAF) human spaceflight program in the 1960s. The project was developed from early USAF concepts of crewed space stations as reconnaissance satellites, and was a su ...
project by the United States, while the Genesis stations were launched privately. The Genesis stations were "retired" when their avionics systems stopped working after two and a half years, yet they still remain in orbit as
derelict spacecraft.
Operational stations
As of , two stations are orbiting Earth with
life support system
A life-support system is the combination of equipment that allows survival in an environment or situation that would not support that life in its absence. It is generally applied to systems supporting human life in situations where the outsid ...
in place and fully operational.
Planned and proposed
These space stations have been announced by their host entity and are currently in planning, development or production. The launch date listed here may change as more information becomes available.
Cancelled projects
Most of these stations were canceled due to financial difficulties, or merged into other projects.
Timeline
Size comparison
See also
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Spacelab
Spacelab was a reusable laboratory developed by European Space Agency (ESA) and used on certain spaceflights flown by the Space Shuttle. The laboratory comprised multiple components, including a pressurized module, an unpressurized carrier ...
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List of crewed spacecraft
This is a list of all crewed spacecraft types that have flown into space, including sub-orbital flights above 80 km, Space Stations that have been visited by at least one crew, and spacecraft currently planned to operate with crew in the f ...
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Commercial Space Stations
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Space stations and habitats in fiction
Notes
References
External links
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{{Space stations
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Spaceflight timelines