Advertisement

International Space Station marks ten years of continuous habitation

It's not often we get to mark a ten year anniversary... in space, but that's just what the International Space Station is now celebrating. It was ten years ago today that the first crew arrived for a stay on the space station (which itself had been in orbit for two years prior), and it has been continuously occupied by humans ever since. It's also, of course, expanded considerably during that time period, and seen its share of bumps along the way, but it's not ready to de-orbit any time soon. The anniversary also marks the halfway point of the ISS's expected lifetime and, if past history is any indication, it could well end up getting an extension beyond that -- even if it's with an all-robot crew. Hit up the source links below for NASA's own retrospective on ten years of life on the station.