Tara Suter
Wed, 6 December 2023
NASA on Wednesday celebrated 25 years of the International Space Station’s (ISS) operations.
The first two modules of the ISS, named Zayra and Unity, were joined together 25 years ago on Dec. 6, 1998. NASA Associate Administrator Bob Cabana and ISS Program Manager Joel Montalbano spoke to the seven members of the Expedition 70 crew aboard the station Wednesday to mark the occasion.
“I cannot believe it was 25 years ago today that we grappled Zarya and joined it with the Unity node. Absolutely amazing,” Cabana said in the call with ISS crew members.
The space station itself commemorated the occasion on its account on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
“The station celebrates 25 years of operations today as the Exp 70 crew conducted aging, mental health, and cognition research while continuing ongoing cargo operations,” the station said in a Wednesday post.
Back in September, an international crew of astronauts known as “Crew-6” returned home after a mission to the ISS. The crew featured two NASA astronauts, Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg, United Arab Emirates astronaut Sultan Alneyadi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev.
“After spending six months aboard the International Space Station, logging nearly 79 million miles during their mission, and completing hundreds of scientific experiments for the benefit of all humanity, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 has returned home to planet Earth,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a release.
The three-nation crew “demonstrated humanity’s shared ambition to reach new cosmic shores. The contributions of Crew-6 will help prepare NASA to return to the Moon under Artemis, continue onward to Mars, and improve life here on Earth,” Nelson continued.
Public can tune in as NASA live streams space station's 25th anniversary call to crew
Patrick Hilsman
Tue, 5 December 2023
NASA will mark the 25th anniversary of the International Space Station with a call between crew and NASA officials Wednesday. File Photo by NASA/UPI
Dec. 5 (UPI) -- NASA officials will mark the 25th anniversary of the International Space Station with a call to the crew Wednesday, and the public and tune in.
"During a space to Earth call at 12:25 EST Wednesday, Dec. 6, the Expedition 70 crew will speak with NASA Associate Administrator Bob Cabana and Joel Montalbano, space station program manager," NASA said in a press release Tuesday.
NASA will live stream the event on NASA TV, YouTube and via the NASA App.
The commemoration will mark 25 years since the Zarya and Unity modules were connected by the crew of shuttle Endevour on Dec. 6, 1998.
Current NASA Associate Administrator Bob Cabana was the commander of the STS-88 shuttle mission that assembled the two modules.
"More than 3,300 research and educational investigations have been conducted on station from 108 countries and areas," NASA said. "Many lay the groundwork for future commercial destinations in low-Earth orbit and exploration farther into the solar system."
According to NASA, the ISS has been continuously inhabited for 23 years and has hosted 273 occupants.
The ISS is a rare cooperative project between Russia and the United States at a time of elevated tension between the two global superpowers caused primarily by Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
On Friday, a Russian Progress spacecraft took off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with supplies for the ISS.
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