It was on November 2nd, 2000, that the International Space Station welcomed its very first inhabitants, and 15 years later, it has been continuously occupied – providing humanity with cutting-edge research, star-making Bowie covers, and decent espresso.
Astronaut Bill Shepherd and cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev were the first team to occupy the orbital structure, spending four months on board and carrying out the duties of Expedition 1. Last July, Expedition 45 blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to take over.
In the 15 years since the first crew arrived, 220 people from 17 different countries have called the ISS home, revolving around the planet 87,600 times.
In 2000, the ISS looked very different from the structure we know today; at the outset, it was simply three pressurised modules, along with a couple of solar-panel wings to help keep it powered. In the 15 years since, the station has grown with 12 more pressurised modules added, and is now the size of a football pitch. A total of 115 launches were needed to make it what it is today, an engineering masterpiece weighing 454,000kg, operated by 3.3m lines of software coding.
Over on TED-Ed, Tien Nguyen explains how the ISS came together, and shows how the station is a shining example of how collaboration on Earth can achieve something truly out of this world. You can watch the video below:
