I know the ISS is pretty big but I remember reading about a really huge ‘thing’ that was built in orbit, not sure what it was though. We’re talking really big, like over a thousand feet long.
What was it ?
I’m wondering if it was perhaps not a structure, but a very long cable/wire, but I’m sure there was a large ‘framework’ type structure that was quite extensive.
Back in the late 50s and early 60s they experimented with “passive” communication satellites such as Echo 1, which were simply big aluminumized balloons that microwave signals could be reflected off of. But I believe they were only about 100 feet across.
A few years back the Shuttle was involved in an experiment where it reeled out a fairly long tether. It broke while only partially reeled out, some kind of electrical discaharge. I don’t remember how log it was supposed to get, or did get.
Here’s some info about the space tether experiment:
http://www-istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/Education/wtether.html
It was a 20km tether, and it was almost completely deployed when it broke. I think this is the largest manmade “structure” ever launched or assembled in space.