Continuous Occupation Since 2000: The ISS Story

The International Space Station began as a Cold War peace project. The 1998 launch of the Russian Zarya module marked the start of assembly. Over the next 13 years, 42 assembly flights added modules built by 15 countries. The first crew, Expedition 1, arrived on November 2, 2000, and the station has been occupied ever since. The ISS survived the Columbia disaster, the end of the Space Shuttle program, and numerous geopolitical crises that strained US-Russia cooperation. As of October 2026 it had hosted nearly 300 visitors from 26 countries, according to NASA. The station represents the most expensive single object ever constructed, with total costs estimated at 150 billion dollars. Despite political tensions on Earth, cooperation on the ISS has never broken down, making it arguably the most successful international collaboration in history.