{"id":469,"date":"2025-12-03T03:00:32","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T02:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/100blogs.ovh\/36\/index.php\/2025\/12\/03\/the-international-space-station-marks-25-years-of-continuous-human-presence\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T11:34:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T10:34:21","slug":"the-international-space-station-marks-25-years-of-continuous-human-presence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/100blogs.ovh\/36\/index.php\/2025\/12\/03\/the-international-space-station-marks-25-years-of-continuous-human-presence\/","title":{"rendered":"The International Space Station Marks 25 Years of Continuous Human Presence\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
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On Nov. 2, 2025, NASA honored 25 years of continuous human presence aboard the International Space Station. What began as a fragile framework of modules has evolved into a springboard for international cooperation, advanced scientific research and technology demonstrations, the development of a low Earth orbit economy, and NASA\u2019s next great leaps in exploration, including crewed missions to the Moon and Mars.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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The first expedition<\/h2>\n
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\"Expedition<\/a><\/figure>
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The Expedition One crew in the Zvezda Service module aboard the International Space Station. From left: commander William Shepherd, Soyuz commander Yuri Gidzenko and Flight Engineer Sergei Krikalev.<\/div>\n
NASA<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

This legacy of achievement in global human endeavors began with the first crew\u2019s arrival to the space station<\/a> on Nov. 2, 2000. Expedition 1 crew members NASA astronaut William M. Shepherd and Russian Aviation and Space Agency, now Roscosmos, cosmonauts Yuri P. Gidzenko and Sergei K. Krikalev launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan two days prior. After a successful docking, the crew transferred aboard the station and began bringing it to life. Their primary tasks during their four-month mission included installing and activating the life support and communications systems and working with three visiting space shuttle crews to continue the station\u2019s assembly. The trio returned to Earth in March 2001 aboard space shuttle Discovery, after having turned the station over to the Expedition 2 crew.\u00a0<\/p>\n

(Space)walking into history<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h2>\n
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\"NASA<\/a><\/figure>
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NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan conducts a spacewalk at the Port- 6 truss structure work site to upgrade International Space Station systems.<\/div>\n
NASA\/Christina Koch<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Assembly and maintenance of the International Space Station would not be possible without the skilled work of crew members performing intricate tasks, in bulky spacesuits, in the harsh environment of space. In addition to station upkeep, spacewalks provide a platform for testing and improving spacesuits and tools \u2013 critical information for future exploration of the Moon and Mars. Other spacewalks have included operations for scientific research. In Jan. 2025, for example, crew members collected samples for an investigation examining whether microorganisms have exited through station vents and can survive in space, to better inform spacecraft design that helps prevent human contamination of Mars and other destinations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

More than 270 spacewalks dedicated to the space station have been accomplished in the last quarter century. Several made station and human spaceflight history:\u00a0<\/p>\n