7 Biggest Manmade Things Sent To Space

The 20th century saw the advent of space exploration with artificial satellites, space probes and manned spacecraft. Humans have come a long way since launching the first artificial satellite Sputnik I in 1957 and have sent some super massive things in space. Here is a list of the seven biggest objects in space sent from Earth.

1. International Space Station (ISS)

The largest space station ever built, the ISS is bigger than a football field and measures 356 feet in length, 240 feet in width and over 900,000 pounds (408,233 kg) in weight. The manned space station that is an orbiting laboratory, which conducts various scientific and space studies, researches, observations and experiments aboard it, is the only artificial satellite that can be seen with the naked eyes from the planet Earth.

2. Hubble Space Telescope (HST)

Measuring more in length than the size of two school buses, the Hubble Space Telescope has been the largest in its category since 1990. The HST is 43.5 feet in length and weighs nearly 27,000 pounds (12,247 kg).

3. Environment Satellite (Envisat)

The largest satellite that orbits Earth, Envisat monitors primarily monitors Earth’s atmosphere. The satellite, which measures 33 feet in length and weighs around 18,100 pounds (8,210 kg), is not in operation currently but it is still orbiting.

4. MIR

Launched by Russia, MIR was the first space station to be sent out by a nation other than the U.S. MIR measured 108 feet in length,101 feet in width and weighed nearly 309,000 pounds (140,160 kg).

5. Saturn V

According to NASA, the Saturn V measuring 343 feet tall and weighing over 6 million pounds (2,721,554 kg) was the tallest, heaviest and most powerful rocket that was built. The Saturn V completed 13 missions in its timeline, since its launch in 1967 until when it was discontinued in 1973.

6. Skylab

Though not as big as the ISS, the Skylab was the first space station to be sent out from Earth. The space laboratory weighed nearly 170,000 pounds (77,111 kg) and orbited Earth from 1973 to 1979.

7. Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV)

ATV is among the largest space vessels sent out by humans. It was used to supply water, oxygen, food, clothing, spare parts and material for experiments to the ISS.