Posts: 4229
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010

posted 11-02-2025 10:31 AM            

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As I understand it, the last day there was no one in space was Oct. 30, 2000 because Soyuz TM-31 launched the next day and the International Space Station has been continuously occupied since then.

So with the ISS, the Chinese space station and whatever comes next, how long do you think we will be able to say that Oct. 30, 2000 was the last day?

Posts: 828
From: Derbyshire UK
Registered: Mar 2023

Posts: 4229
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010

Posts: 1205
From: UK
Registered: Apr 2005

posted 11-02-2025 03:25 PM            

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Indeed, and this fact is something which should be taught in schools across the world.

I have no idea whether it is, but that there has not been a day since Soyuz TM-31 reached low earth orbit that someone has not been orbiting above us is remarkable.

ISS probably the only peaceful, unifying and visible thing humans ever accomplished thus far this century.

Posts: 55453
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 11-02-2025 03:41 PM               

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I liked what David Hitt said about the milestone:

The amazing part is not that human beings have been living in space for every moment of every day for a quarter century now. The amazing part is that that's not amazing.

As he went on to write, there is a whole generation of 25-year-old adults (and all those younger) who have no reason to consider a continuous human presence in space as special because it is all they have ever known their entire life.

To me, the interesting part is that the 25 years was achieved aboard the same spacecraft, allowing for a possible new culture (distinct from Earth) to form on the ISS. Over the past quarter century, we have seen adaptations to the astronauts' foods that have only been prepared on the ISS, as well as music being composed and games being developed that have only been performed there.

If the record continues more broadly across different space stations, it will still be an achievement, but with the end of the ISS we are going to lose (at least for now) the results of having customs and practices passed directly from crew to crew.

Posts: 1205
From: UK
Registered: Apr 2005

posted 11-03-2025 10:25 AM            

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Undoubtedly the biggest legacy of ISS was the unique international collaboration, likely to continue in Artemis.

But the most beneficial outcome were commercial cargo and crew spacecraft developments by the U.S. and Japan. It was a huge risk for NASA to have to retire its surviving shuttles, but has worked out far better than anyone dared imagine.

In fact, SpaceX proved that a liquid-fuel flyback booster (something once considered for the space shuttle) was viable and safe for reuse.

Would the ISS still be up there without any of that?

Posts: 55453
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 11-03-2025 11:22 AM               

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Falcon 9 did not need to be reusable for Dragon to supply crew and cargo to the ISS. SpaceX bid on the contract and initially flew without reuse.

The shuttle was only really needed to complete assembly. The station could have continued to this day using only Soyuz and Progress (and maybe ATV and/or HTV), had it been a real collaboration with Russia (rather than one hinged on bartering services). The major contribution of Dragon was downmass capability.

Posts: 2016
From: Cape Canaveral, FL
Registered: Mar 2010

Posts: 1205
From: UK
Registered: Apr 2005

posted 11-04-2025 07:50 AM            

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I think the U.S. orbital segment definitely needed all of those shuttle crews to launch and assemble it. Russia, on the other hand, already had decades of expertise launching and docking large modules.

It's only in the past 15 years that American commercial companies were able to do likewise (with Falcon 9 doing most the heavy lifting). But this will be vital as a suitable replacement for ISS emerges.