how long has the iss been around and was it ever seriously damaged

Question: how long has the iss been around and was it ever seriously damaged
- Keywords:
  damage,
  ISS
Asked by Rowhyn to Charlie 🚀 on 17 Jun 2016.
- Charles Laing answered on 17 Jun 2016:
  
  Hi Rowhyn,
  
  The ISS was launched in 1998 and now it is completed much time is spend on repairs.
  
  Tiny micro-meteorites hit the space station every day and it actually does not cause much of a problem – it is pretty resilient! Engineers regularly take pictures of the huge solar panels to look at damage and assess how often it gets hit.
  
  Thankfully no major damage has occured.
  
  Charlie 😀🚀