International Space Station Becomes Operational

On November 2, 2000, the first resident crew — American astronaut Bill Shepherd and Russian cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev — arrived at the International Space Station, beginning an unbroken human presence in space that has continued for over 25 years. The ISS, a collaboration between NASA, Roscosmos, ESA, JAXA, and CSA, is the largest structure ever built in space: 109 meters wide, with the interior volume of a six-bedroom house, orbiting at 28,000 km/h. Over 280 individuals from 22 countries have visited the station, conducting thousands of scientific experiments in microgravity — from protein crystallization to human physiology to fluid dynamics. The ISS stands as perhaps the greatest achievement of international cooperation in history, built by former Cold War adversaries working side by side 400 km above the Earth.