Twenty years ago on November 2 the first long-duration space mission crew arrived aboard the ISS. Russian cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergey Krikalyov and American astronaut William Shepherd became the first habitants of this unique orbital home, their Soyuz TM-31 spacecraft was launched from Baikonur on October 21, 2000.
This marked the beginning of new space era of space exploration and international cooperation in space.
For this 20-years period, 241 cosmonauts and astronauts from 19 countries and seven space tourists have visited the station. Any of them made a contribution to stations design and development, took part in numerous scientific researches and educational investigations.
Currently it is ISS-64 mission crew comprising Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and NASA astronaut Kathleen Rubins working aboard the ISS.
