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The first ISS crew launches from Russia

The first crew: two cosmonauts, one astronaut.

On 31 October 2000, the first “long-duration crew” at the International Space Station (ISS) launched from Russia (Kazakhstan). Construction had begun in 1998.

That initial crew consisted of two Russian cosmonauts, Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev, and one US astronaut, William Shepherd. Shepherd was the commander of ISS Expedition One. Gidzenko was as the commander of the Soyuz TM-31 spacecraft.

The three men arrived at the ISS on 02 November 2000, “marking the start of an uninterrupted human presence on the orbiting laboratory.”

In 22 years, ISS has grown. It began as a pair of U.S. and Russian modules. Today, it is much, much bigger!

Measured from the edges of its solar arrays, the station covers the area of a football field including the end zones. It includes laboratory modules from the United States, Russia, Japan and Europe.

International Space Station
International Space Station, circa 2020. NASA.

The international effort made history on 25 October 2007:

Check out these Twitter accounts!

#scitech, #space
📷  NASA
Daily posts, 2022-2023 (283/365)

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