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ISS Astronauts Reflect on 15 Years of Continuous Human Presence in Space

The milestone is an achievement for both discovery and diplomacy.
The ISS has been manned continuously for the last 15 years as it orbits the Earth. Image: NASA

We've been sending astronauts to live in orbit around the Earth for a long time now, but Monday is a particularly notable milestone in human space residency. November 2 marks 15 years of continuous occupation on the International Space Station—the longest nonstop human residency in space.

To celebrate, the entire ISS crew assembled for a livestream press conference with media around the globe beaming up questions for the astronauts. The crew fielded queries like whether the ISS should have been given a more exciting name—Commander Scott Kelly said there was some talk about that back in the day, but the space agencies couldn't come to a consensus. Besides, he said, International Space Station sums it up pretty well.

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They answered questions about whether the Russian cosmonauts would be celebrating Unity Day, a national holiday in Russia that falls on Wednesday (yep, they're taking the day off) and whether they can see the Great Wall of China from the ISS (nope). They even got the old chestnut of trying to describe the feeling of going on a spacewalk for the first time. Cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko compared it to the moment just as you approach the hatch when skydiving.

But the best discussion came when the crew was asking to elucidate their feelings about the anniversary and the success of the ISS project. Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui—who marked 100 days in space this weekend—talked about how astronauts from around the globe are able to work together aboard the ISS.

"What is great about the ISS is that although the astronauts are from different backgrounds and different countries, we respect each other," Yui said, adding that the crew was planning on having a special anniversary meal together this evening to talk about the ISS's past and future.

ISS Commander Scott Kelly, who now holds the US record for the most total days in space as well as the most consecutive days in space. Image: NASA.

The first pieces of the ISS were launched in 1998 and after it was assembled, the Expedition One crew—Russian cosmonauts Yuri Pavolich Gidzenko and Sergei K. Krikalev and NASA astronaut Bill Shepherd—boarded on November 2, 2000 for a 136-day mission. A partnership between the US, Russia, Japan, Canada, and participating countries of the European Space Agency (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom) made it a truly international endeavor, one that had never been attempted in space before.

Over the past 15 years, the research aboard the ISS has led to discoveries from the first evidence of the existence of dark matter to the long-term effects of zero gravity on the human body (one of the ISS's biggest research foci). This research has provided a wealth of information to aid in planning for the current holy grail of space travel: a manned mission to Mars.

Aside from the achievement of the longest continuous human presence in space, the ISS is also a pretty remarkable diplomatic feat. The only reason the ISS has been as successful as it has is because the 15 participating nations have worked together, shared knowledge, and compromised with one another. So you can't blame the crew for getting a little mushy when they're reflecting on how this unity has impacted scientific advancement and space discovery.

"The ISS is a perfect example of international cooperation," cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko said via a translator. "People on the ground sometimes fail to hear each other, to see each other. Here in space, this is impossible. Everyone is important here and the success of the program, and sometimes even life, depends on what each and every one of us does."