International Space Station

Follow these instructions to build your own International Space Station model.

• 18 February 2009 | Updated 29 November 2011

• You will need
• What's happening
• Brought to you by    

You will need:

• scissors
• craft glue
• sticky tape
• pencil
• International Space Station Paper Model
  
• instructions
• patience! (a lot of it, and perhaps an adult helper)
• thread

What to do

Follow the instructions you have downloaded and you will have your very own model of the International Space Station! You can also play the video below to see the steps involved.

What's happening

The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest and most complicated spacecraft ever built. It is being constructed by a collaboration of one hundred thousand people, hundreds of companies, and sixteen nations spread over four continents.

The space station is in a low Earth orbit and can be seen from Earth with the unaided eye. It orbits at an altitude of about 350 kilometres above the Earth and travels at an average speed of 27 700 kilometres per hour, orbiting the Earth 16 times a day!

To learn more about the ISS check out the special space issues of Scientriffic or The Helix

Brought to you by

This paper model was produced by the Double Helix Science Club.

Thank you to all the people who have contributed to making the ISS paper model a success including:

• Alfonso "design a model in minutes" X Moreno
• Liam "burning the midnight oil" Adamaitys
• Millicent "paper cuts" Burke
• Gabrielle "makes the most models" Tramby
• Jasmine "keep it simple" Leong
• Mike "stop motion" McRae

And a special thank you to our super-keen test pilots: Heidi, Tom, Josh, Tim, Alexander, Harry and Otto from our Scientriffic review team.