'Full Power for Full Science': Remembering STS-119, Ten Years On

By Ben Evans, on March 24th, 2019

The International Space Station (ISS), as it appeared in March 2009, as shuttle Discovery departed at the end of STS-119. The S-6 truss and its two sets of solar array wings are visible at the far right of frame. Photo Credit: NASA, via Joachim Becker/SpaceFacts.de

Ten years ago, this month, the crew of […]

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'Exploring Space as a Planet': 15 Years Since STS-100 Shook Hands at the Space Station (Part 2)

By Ben Evans, on April 17th, 2016

The multi-national STS-100 crew comprised, in orange suits, from left, Yuri Lonchakov, Kent Rominger, Umberto Guidoni, Jeff Ashby, and John Phillips, and in white EVA suits Scott Parazynski (left) and Chris Hadfield. Photo Credit: NASA, via Joachim Becker/SpaceFacts.de

When NASA and its worldwide partners began assembling the International Space Station (ISS) in low-Earth […]

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'Nice Round Number': 15 Years Since STS-100 Shook Hands at the Space Station (Part 1)

By Ben Evans, on April 16th, 2016

15 years ago, this month, Canadarm2 was installed at the International Space Station (ISS). Shuttle mission STS-100 marked the first occasion that as many as four discrete nations had been represented on a single flight and saw Chris Hadfield become Canada’s first spacewalker. Photo Credit: NASA, via Joachim Becker/SpaceFacts.de

Within the last month, […]

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Identical Twin, Former Paratrooper, and Ecologist to Launch Friday Aboard Soyuz TMA-16M (Part 1)

By Ben Evans, on March 25th, 2015

Soyuz TMA-16M will launch on 27 March 2015, carrying (from left) Scott Kelly, Gennadi Padalka, and Mikhail Kornienko. Photo Credit: NASA

Two sons of Earth are presently enjoying their final hours in terrestrial gravity, before embarking on almost an entire orbit of the Sun, as they prepare to journey to the International Space […]

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'Fifteen Midnights': Celebrating the New Year in Space (Part 1)

By Ben Evans, on December 27th, 2014

Bill Shepherd (center) and his Expedition 1 crewmates, Yuri Gidzenko (left) and Sergei Krikalev, juggle oranges during their time aboard the International Space Station. They celebrated both Christmas and the dawn of 2001 in orbit. Photo Credit: NASA

With a naval officer in command of the International Space Station, it might have seemed […]

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Ding-Dong Merrily On-Orbit: Celebrating Yuletide in Space (Part 2)

By Ben Evans, on December 24th, 2014

Since December 2000, a multi-national mix of Americans and Russians, Japanese and Italians, a Dutchman and a Canadian have celebrated Christmas aboard the International Space Station. Photo Credit: NASA

As we celebrate the festive period over the coming days, spare a thought for the four men and two women from three discrete nations […]

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Major Tim and Colonel Tim to Usher In New Era on International Space Station

By Ben Evans, on October 1st, 2013

Now structurally complete and transitioning from post-construction into full utilization, the International Space Station will expand in terms of its International Partners over the next few years. Photo Credit: NASA

With the announcement yesterday of the appointment of NASA astronaut Tim Kopra and Britain’s Tim Peake to the future crew of Expedition 45/46, […]

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NASA Announces Year-Long ISS Mission as Japan Assigns 2015 Station Occupant

By Ben Evans, on October 5th, 2012

Since November 1998, the International Space Station has grown into the largest human-made object ever placed into the heavens. It has brought the inhabitants of dozens of nations together in the pursuit of peace and harmony. Now the time has come for its next mission: to prepare our species for its next steps […]

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