The first ISS component was launched in 1998, with the first long-term residents arriving on 2 November 2000. Since then, the station has been continuously occupied for 19 years and 253 days. This is the longest continuous human presence in low Earth orbit, having surpassed the previous record of 9 years and 357 days held by the Mir space station. The latest major pressurized module was added in 2011, with an experimental inflatable space habitat added in 2016. The ISS consists of pressurized habitation modules, structural trusses, solar arrays, thermal radiators, docking ports, experiment bays and robotic arms. Major ISS modules have been launched by Russian Proton and Soyuz rockets and US Space Shuttles. The ISS is the ninth space station to be inhabited by crews, following the Soviet and later Russian Salyut, Almaz, and Mir stations as well as Skylab from the US. The station is serviced by a variety of visiting spacecraft: the Russian Soyuz and Progress, the US Dragon and Cygnus, the Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle, and formerly the European Automated Transfer Vehicle.

As of September 2019, 239 astronauts and cosmonauts from 20 different nations have visited the space station, many of them multiple times. The United States has sent 151 astronauts, Russia 47, Japan 9, Canada 8, Italy 5, France 4, Germany 3, and one astronaut each from Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom.

On the International Space Stations astronauts do not use Wake-up calls or songs. Instead, astronauts use an alarm clock. However, astronauts such as Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield have brought Instruments into space.

Songs chosen for the Mars Rovers:

Pathfinder, Sojourner, Spirit and Opportunity