Space Station received special visitors 22 years ago today - Digital Trends

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On this time 22 years ago, 3 astronauts arrived astatine the International Space Station (ISS) to statesman what’s turned retired to beryllium a continuous quality beingness successful orbit.

On Nov. 2, 2000, Exp 1 crewmates Bill Shepherd, Sergei Krikalev, and Yuri Gidzenko, the archetypal nonmigratory presumption unit members, arrived astatine their caller location successful abstraction to statesman a four-month enactment aboard the orbiting outpost. 🧳🛰️ https://t.co/XUS3gB5JYr pic.twitter.com/isuP4nwjS7

— International Space Station (@Space_Station) November 2, 2022

The time earlier a Russian Soyuz rocket launched Bill Shepherd, Sergei Krikalev, and Yuri Gidzenko to orbit connected October 31, a NASA property merchandise said that October 30, 2000, would beryllium “the past time connected which determination were nary quality beings successful space.”

And indeed, since then, determination has been a continuous beingness of planetary astronauts connected the installation arsenic it orbits astir 250 miles supra Earth.

While years of readying went into the ambitious task to physique a space-based installation for quality habitation, enactment began successful earnest connected November 20, 1998, with the motorboat of a Russian-made impermanent power module called Zarya.

A abbreviated clip later, connected December 4, NASA’s Space Shuttle Endeavour carried to orbit Unity Node 1 — the archetypal American constituent of the ISS.

Endeavour rendezvoused with Zarya, and utilizing the Shuttle’s robotic arm, captured the Russian module and connected it to Unity.

It was the archetypal of galore akin docking maneuvers that gradually built the ISS into a overmuch larger installation that’s present 356 feet (109 meters) end-to-end — 1 gait abbreviated of the magnitude of an American shot field, including the extremity zones.

NASA describes this marvel of modern engineering arsenic “larger than a six-bedroom house,” offering plentifulness of country for what is usually a unit of astir fractional a twelve astronauts.

Each acceptable of visiting astronauts spends astir six months surviving and moving aboard the satellite, conducting science experiments successful microgravity conditions, the results of which tin payment humanity; performing attraction connected the presumption via spacewalks; moving retired to enactment fit; conducting Earth studies from the facility’s seven-window Cupola module; and enjoying downtime with crewmates.

Despite the successes, challenges successful maintaining the aging presumption means that it’ll yet beryllium decommissioned, probably successful 2031. By that time, however, a caller planetary station should beryllium successful orbit, ensuring a quality beingness successful abstraction for a agelong clip to come.

A mates of years ago, to people the station’s 20th year, Digital Trends shared a postulation of videos showing how astronauts unrecorded and work aboard the ISS.