Space station at 20 years of people living in orbit

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — The International Space Station was a cramped, humid, puny three rooms when the first crew moved in.

Twenty years and 241 visitors later, the complex has a lookout tower, three toilets, six sleeping compartments and 12 rooms, depending on how you count.

Monday marks two decades of a steady stream of people living there.

Astronauts from 19 countries have floated through the space station hatches, including many repeat visitors who arrived on shuttles for short- term construction work, and several tourists who paid their own way.

The first crew — Bill Shepherd from the US and Russia’s Sergei Krikalev and Yuri Gidzenko — blasted off from Kazakhstan on Oct 31, 2000. Two days later, they swung open the space station doors, clasping their hands in unity.

Shepherd, a former Navy SEAL who served as the station commander, likened it to living on a ship at sea. The three spent most of their time coaxing equipment to work. Balky systems made the place too warm. Conditions were primitive, compared with now.

“Each day seemed to have its own set of challenges,” Shepherd said during a recent NASA panel discussion with his crewmates.

The space station has since morphed into a complex that’s almost as long as a football field, with 13 kilometers of electrical wiring, an acre of solar panels, and three high- tech labs.

Shepherd, 71, is long retired from NASA and lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Krikalev, 62, and Gidzenko, 58, have risen in Russian space ranks. Both were involved in the mid- October launch of the 64th crew.

The first thing the three did once arriving at the darkened space station on Nov 2, 2000, was turn on the lights, which Krikalev recalled as “very memorable”.

Then they heated water for hot drinks and activated the lone toilet.

With its first piece launched in 1998, the International Space Station already has logged 22 years in orbit. NASA and its partners contend it easily has several years of usefulness left 400 kilometers up in space.

Astronaut diversity

The current residents — one US citizen and two Russians, just like the original crew — plan to celebrate Monday’s milestone by sharing a special dinner, enjoying the views of Earth and remembering all the crews who came before them, especially the first.

One of the best outcomes of 20 years of continuous space habitation, according to Shepherd, is astronaut diversity.

While men still lead the pack, more crews include women. Two US women have served as space station skipper.

Commanders typically are a US citizen or Russian, but they have also come from Belgium, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan.

While African Americans have made short visits to the space station, the first Black resident is due to arrive in mid- November on SpaceX’s second astronaut flight.