Images of the Day: Happy 15th Birthday, International Space Station

Fifteen years ago the world was a different place. There was no such thing as an iPhone, Facebook was unheard of, dial-up Internet was still used in many homes, and the International Space Station (ISS) had just made its way up into orbit. On November 2^nd , the ISS celebrated 15 years in space, with representation by over 200 people from 15 countries taking their turn to explore the great beyond. Although the station wasn’t completed until 2011, that didn’t stop astronauts from inhabiting their home-away-from-home for the last decade and a half.

The International Space Station has been orbiting Earth for 15 years. Image source: NASA.

First on board the ISS back in the year 2000 were Russian cosmonauts Sergei Krikalev and Yuri Gizenko, and NASA astronaut William Shepherd. The crew, known as Expedition 1, was chosen as an international team from the beginning, and launched to space on October 31, 2000 from Gagarin’s Start at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard the Soyuz TM-31 spacecraft.

NASA’s Water Recovery System on board the ISS. Image source: NASA.

Throughout January 2001, the Expedition 1 crew worked through outfitting operations on the station while performing science experiments aboard the floating laboratory. Their official tour of duty on board the ISS ended on March 19, 2001 when the Shuttle Discovery undocked from the station.

The ISS orbits Earth at five miles-per-second. Image source: NASA.

Currently the ISS has experienced 26,500 served meals, 189 executed spacewalks, 1,760 performed experiments, and 5,478 days of continuous human habitation in outer space. The entire structure of the ISS is nearly the size of a football field and weighs about one million pounds. It’s equipped with two toilets, and has upgraded from three to 13 rooms in its 15 years circling Earth.

Impressively, the ISS orbits our planet at five miles-per-second, meaning it’s now made 87,600 revolutions of Earth, and is expected to make a few more until its life expectancy is up in 2024.