The station’s first full-time residents \u2014 one American and two Russians \u2014 opened the hatch in 2000.<\/b>
\nIt\u2019s an unprecedented space streak: 25 years of people living off-planet without even a moment\u2019s pause.
The International Space Station marks a quarter-century of continuous occupancy this weekend, boasting a guest list of nearly 300 \u2014 mostly professional astronauts but also the occasional space tourist and movie director. The first full-time residents opened the hatch on Nov. 2, 2000.
With only five years left at the scientific outpost, NASA is counting on private companies to launch their own orbiting stations with an even bigger and wider clientele.
Here\u2019s a look at what has been and what is ahead:The space station\u2019s first astronauts
NASA\u2019s Bill Shepherd and Russia\u2019s Sergei Krikalev and Yuri Gidzenko took off in a Russian Soyuz rocket from Kazakhstan on Oct. 31, 2000. They reached the dark, humid, three-room station two days later and spent almost five months on board, making the place not only functional but hospitable.
Shepherd, a former Navy SEAL who retired in 2002, serves on a space station advisory committee with Krikalev, now a high-ranking Russian space official.
While relations between the U.S. and Russia are \u201cquite bad\u201d on the national level, \u201cperson to person and even space agency to space agency, they\u2019re actually quite good,\u201d Shepherd told The Associated Press.290 visitors and counting
Most of the visitors have flown courtesy of their homelands.
The first to pay his own way \u2014 California businessman Dennis Tito \u2014 launched with the Russians in 2001 over NASA\u2019s objections. Hungry for cash, Russia continued flying private clients, including a Russian movie crew in 2021.
NASA now embraces space tourism, inviting private crews for two-week stays. Dropping by the station a few months ago were the first astronauts in decades from India, Poland and Hungary, accompanied by the station\u2019s first female commander, Peggy Whitson. \u201cSpace brings people together,\u201d she noted.Close calls aboard the space station
Operations may look easy and ho-hum as astronauts come and go, but \u201cthere\u2019s nothing routine about it,\u201d former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said at a recent presentation.
Among the more serious stumbles: a spacewalker\u2019s near-drowning, a docking that sent the station into a wild spin, persistent cracks and air leaks, and the ever-growing threat of space junk.
Shepherd is surprised it\u2019s still going strong. \u201cThe fact that it\u2019s more than twice its design life on a lot of things is pretty remarkable,\u201d he said.Touches of home
Space station life has improved drastically since Shepherd and his crew toughed it out.
\u201cIt\u2019s a four-star hotel now,\u201d he said. \u201cYou couldn\u2019t ask for better accommodations, at least in space.\u201d
Now the size of a football field with multiple labs, the station has an internet phone for astronauts\u2019 personal use and a glassed-in cupola, or dome, for prime Earth views and performances.
Canada\u2019s guitar-playing astronaut Chris Hadfield famously performed David Bowie\u2019s \u201cSpace Oddity\u201d and other tunes from that perch more than a decade ago.
Experimental hothouses also have added color and zip, yielding chile peppers and zinnias. An espresso machine even got a brief tryout, as did a cookie-baking oven. But there\u2019s still no shower or laundry \u2014 sponge baths only, with dirty clothes tossed instead of washed.Highs and lows of station life
Astronauts have gotten married and welcomed newborn children while serving on the space station. One of the new space dads \u2014 Mike Fincke \u2014 is up there again, more than 20 years after he dialed in from orbit to his wife\u2019s delivery room.
Station residents have also dealt with heartbreak. An astronaut\u2019s mother was killed in a car accident in 2007. And in 2011, Scott Kelly was midway through a five-month stay when his sister-in-law, U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, was shot in the head and survived.
Others have had to cope with delayed returns, the most recent and extreme case involving stuck astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. Their planned weeklong test flight of Boeing\u2019s new Starliner capsule turned into a station stay of more than nine months, with NASA switching to SpaceX for the return trip.Science in zero gravity
Thousands of experiments have been conducted, many on the astronauts themselves. Medical tests took on increased urgency several years ago when an astronaut discovered a blood clot in one of their jugular veins. Doctors oversaw treatment from afar until the patient was safely back home.
NASA also launched a twins study with the Kelly brothers. Scott Kelly took part in NASA\u2019s first yearlong expedition in 2015 and 2016, comparing his body with identical twin Mark\u2019s on the ground. Mark Kelly also contributed to astronomy, leading a shuttle mission to deliver and install a cosmic particle detector. Upgrades are planned next year.SpaceX will handle the station\u2019s demise
NASA is paying SpaceX nearly $1 billion to boot the space station from orbit in early 2031. The company will launch a heavy-duty capsule to dock with the station and steer it to a fiery reentry over the Pacific.
Before that happens, Axiom Space will remove the module it plans to send to the station. That free-flying module will form the nucleus of Axiom\u2019s own space station. Other companies are working on their own concepts.
NASA wants to avoid a gap between the International Space Station and its successors, preserving America\u2019s continued human presence in orbit.<\/p>\n