15 Years of Living in Space

The highs and lows of life in an orbiting tin can

It’s only 250 miles away, but it seems farther. Since the first crew went aboard, in 2000, the International Space Station has been humanity’s most distant outpost, a bridge to our space future and one of the engineering marvels of our time. On any given night, you might see them as a single bright, moving light: six people from different countries, circling the world at five miles per second.

Photo bottom right corner of first panel courtesy of Reuters/Richard Carson. All other photos courtesy NASA.

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