The Space Station Crew That Moved In 26 Years Ago and Started a Nonstop Human Presence

Nov. 2 marks an anniversary that changed how people live in space. On that date in 2000, the first long-term residents arrived at the International Space Station, according to Space.com. Because of that arrival, the orbiting outpost has now had people aboard without a break for 26 years.

The first crew, known as Expedition 1, was made up of NASA astronaut Bill Shepherd and two Russian cosmonauts, Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev. Here is what Space.com reports about who they were, what they did and why their stay still counts.

Who was on Expedition 1?

Three people made up the crew: Shepherd from NASA, and Gidzenko and Krikalev from Russia. Space.com describes them as the first long-term residents of the station, meaning they were meant to live and work there rather than visit briefly and return home.

How was this different from earlier visits?

Before Expedition 1, NASA had sent five Space Shuttle missions to the station, each lasting about one week. Space.com reports that those flights helped build the station and carried supplies up to it. They were short trips, though, and nobody stayed on board afterward.

Expedition 1 changed that plan. The crew was scheduled to remain for four and a half months, a far longer stretch than any of the shuttle visits. They also did not ride the shuttle to get there. Instead, they flew on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, which Space.com says was the first Soyuz ever to dock with the station.

What did the crew do while they were there?

According to Space.com, the three spent their time unpacking supplies and installing new equipment. Among the gear they set up were the first solar arrays, which are the panels that collect sunlight for the station.

When their stay ended, the crew returned home aboard the space shuttle Discovery. That same shuttle brought up the Expedition 2 crew, who took over from them. The hand-off meant the station did not sit empty.

Why does it matter today?

Space.com says there has now been a continuous astronaut presence aboard the station for 26 years. In that time, the outlet writes, not a single day has passed without someone living in space and circling the planet on board the station.

The outlet notes that the International Space Station was not the first space station, but it has been the longest-running one by a wide margin. In Space.com's telling, the Expedition 1 crew were pioneers who showed that people could live and work there. The article describes the mission as exploratory and says it proved the station could support astronaut crews.

For readers, the practical meaning is simple. The station is not a one-off stunt or a short visit. It has been a place where people have lived and worked day after day, and the groundwork for that routine was laid by three people who moved in during the fall of 2000.

How many people have followed them?

Space.com says that since that first mission, literally hundreds of astronauts from around the world have flown to the station and lived aboard it. The outlet does not give an exact count in its article, so no precise figure can be offered here.

That international makeup traces back to the very first crew. It included one American and two Russians, and astronauts from many countries have followed. The article presents the station as a shared project rather than the work of one nation.

What is next for the station?

The Space.com article ends on a note of looking ahead and looking back. It says NASA has stated that the station might be decommissioned in the coming years. The outlet did not give a date or details of any plan in the article, so the timing remains unspecified in its account.

Even so, Space.com argues that the accomplishments of the station and its crews will stay in spaceflight history. It frames Expedition 1 as the start of a streak that began on a single day in 2000 and has run without interruption ever since.

Around Prague, based on reporting by Space.com