5 Years of Habitation on the ISS

An anonymous reader writes "The International Space Station has marked five years of continuous human habitation. People started living on the station on November 2, 2000. In five years, the station has hosted 97 people from 10 countries, including 3 commercial passengers. It survived through the Columbia accident and the suspension of shuttle flights. The station is a testbed for long-duration missions to live and work on the Moon and Mars."

Comments

Could someone please post accomplishments?

[PIPBoy3000]

I'm trying hard to find a solid list of scientific accomplishments for the mission. So far, I'm finding a handful of research articles on microgravity-related changes in human physiology. Hopefully there's more.

I hope the major accomplishment of the ISS isn't just keeping it in orbit.

Re:erm..

[Red Flayer]

"You don't generally notice space stations disappearing when a shuttle explodes."

Of course not, you're too busy watching the shuttle explode!

Seriously, though, the US shuttle program & the Russian Soyuz program was the only way to service the ISS at the time of the Columbia crash... so grounding the shuttle program presented a real threat to the continuance of human occupation of the ISS, especially considering Russia's fiscal problems at the time.

So, yes, it is worth mentioning that inhabitance of the ISS continued during the fallout (no pun intended) of the Columbia crash.

5 years of Ham Radio on the ISS

[leighklotz]

The ARRL reports:

...Five years ago this week, the International Space Station Expedition 1 crew of US astronaut and Expedition 1 Commander William ''Shep'' Shepherd, KD5GSL, and Russian cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev, U5MIR, became the first humans to live aboard the ISS.

The initial Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) station gear was already aboard the space station by the time the first crew launched. Later in the month, the Expedition 1 team installed and activated the VHF gear on FM voice and packet under the US call sign NA1SS and the Russian call sign RS0ISS.

Each of the 12 crews that have lived on the ISS to conduct assembly and research activities has included at least one US radio amateur. The Expedition 12 crew Commander Bill McArthur, KC5ACR, and Russian cosmonaut Valery Tokarev will remain on the ISS until next April. Over the years, crew members have conducted nearly 200 ARISS school group contacts and numerous casual QSOs.