Space station marking 20 years of people living in orbit

1/11/2020 6:19

        The International Space Station was a cramped, humid, puny three rooms when the first crew moved in.
        
        Twenty years and 241 visitors later, the complex has a lookout tower, three toilets, six sleeping compartments and 12 rooms, depending on how you count.
        Monday marks two decades of a steady stream of people living there.
        
        Astronauts from 19 countries have floated through the space station hatches, including many repeat visitors who arrived on shuttles for short-term construction work, and several tourists who paid their own way.
        
        The first crew — American Bill Shepherd and Russians Sergei Krikalev and Yuri Gidzenko — blasted off from Kazakhstan on Oct. 31, 2000.
        
        Two days later, they swung open the space station doors, clasping their hands in unity.
        
        Shepherd, a former Navy SEAL who served as the station commander, likened it to living on a ship at sea.
        
        The three spent most of their time coaxing equipment to work; balky systems made the place too warm.
        
        Conditions were primitive, compared with now.
        
        The space station has since morphed into a complex that's almost as long as a football field, 13 kilometers of electrical wiring, an acre of solar panels and three high-tech labs.