All about the ISS, and the UAE's mission to space

Three astronauts - one each from the UAE, Russia and the US - will take off for the ISS on Wednesday.

The world's attention will be set towards the UAE's mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on September 25, as Emirati astronaut Hazzaa AlMansoori carries out a historic mission on board the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft.

AlMansoori will head to space with Russian commander Oleg Skripochka and Nasa astronaut Jessica Meir. Their launch will take place at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Reserve Emirati astronaut Sultan AlNeyadi will also be at Baikonur with Russian commander Sergey Ryzhikov and Thomas Marshburn from Nasa.

Here are some key facts and figures about the ISS:

1. The ISS is a space station in low Earth orbit, with its first component launched in 1998. The ISS programme is a joint project between five participating space agencies -- Nasa (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), Jaxa (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada).

2. The space station's first long-term residents arrived on November 2, 2000. It serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory where crew members can conduct experiments in biology, human biology, physics, astronomy, and meteorology, among other fields. The giant floating laboratory orbits the Earth at an average altitude of 400km.

3. It travels at an average speed of 27,724kmph, and completes 15.54 orbits per day (93 minutes per orbit).

4. At a cost of $160 billion, the ISS is considered as the most expensive object ever built, featuring solar arrays that generate electricity.

5. The atmosphere on board the ISS is similar to that of the Earth, utilising systems that generate oxygen -- via electrolysis of water -- to provide a safe and comfortable earth-like atmosphere for crew members.

6. The ISS has been visited by astronauts, cosmonauts and space tourists from 18 different nations. The UAE will become the 19th visiting country on board the space station, marking a historic moment in the country's space journey.