“Launched in 1998, the ISS...”
Very misleading. The first piece went up in 1998; but, I remember touring NASA in 2000, and touring mock-ups of all the stuff that had yet to be launched.
Wikipedia says it is ‘expected to be finished in 2012’.
So literally this thing will spend 8 years in space as a completed component.
Doing what?
What is its purpose?
Does it even have a purpose?...............