The most incredible images of the International Space Station as it turns 21 – Evening Standard

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In the 21 years since the launch of the International Space Station (ISS), 239 astronauts from 19 countries have visited.

This includes 151 Americans, 47 Russians, three Germans and just one Brit Timothy Peake.

Selected as an ESA astronaut in 2009, 47-year-old Peake graduated from basic astronaut training in 2010 before three years conducting further training and working as a communicator with the ISS prior to being assigned a long-duration mission in 2013.

The Chichester-born astronaut spent six months at the space station from December 15, 2015 to June 18, 2016. During this time Peake conducted a spacewalk to repair the Stations power supply, drove a rover across a simulated Mars terrain and ran the London marathon using the space stations treadmill.

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Upon his arrival back to earth, Peake was awarded a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the Queens 2016 Birthday Honours for services to space research and scientific education.

US President Ronald Reagan first directed NASA to build the ISS within the next 10 years in 1984 but it wasnt until 1998 that the first segment of the ISS launched, taking over 10 years and more than 30 missions to assemble

Two years later, on November 2, 2000, American Commander Bill Shepherd, and Russian Flight Engineers Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev became the first crew to reside for several months in the station.

Expedition 1's crew, American Commander Bill Shepherd, and Russian Flight Engineers Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev (AFP/Getty Images)

There are currently five members on board the ISS: NASA astronaut Drew Morgan, European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov, plus the newest arrivals, NASA astronaut Jessica Meir and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka.

In June this year, NASA announced it will allow tourists to visit the ISS from 2020 at a price of $35,000 (27,100) per night. The space agency saidthere will be up to two private short astronaut missions per year and the tourists will be permitted to travel to the ISS for up to 30 days - the beginning of a new era of space tourism.

Click through the gallery above to see some of the most incredible images of the International Space Station from the past 21 years.

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The most incredible images of the International Space Station as it turns 21 - Evening Standard