Skylab was the USA's first space station, orbiting the Earth from 1973 to 1979. Skylab was launched and operated by NASA. The space station had a workshop, a solar observatory, scientific laboratory equipment, and living quarters for the crew.

Governments and space agencies across the world have announced plans for future space exploration:

• First animals in space:

The International Space Station (ISS) is an artificial satellite in a low Earth orbit, roughly 400 km above the Earth's surface. It was launched in 1998 from the Kennedy Space Center at NASA. The ISS is a collaboration between space agencies around the world, and is divided into two sections: the Russian Orbital Segment and the United States Orbital Segment.