Shorts

26 Years of People Living in Space, Without a Break #Shorts

Oct 24, 2026

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On November 2, 2026, it will be 26 years since the first crew moved into the International Space Station, and people have lived there ever since.

• Expedition 1, Bill Shepherd, Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev, launched on a Soyuz from Kazakhstan and arrived on November 2, 2000 (NASA).
• The station is 356 feet end to end, and measured to its solar arrays it covers about the area of a football field with end zones (NASA).
• It travels at about 17,500 mph and makes 16 orbits of Earth every 24 hours (NASA).
• NASA's visitor list, updated October 1, 2026, counts 298 people from 26 countries (NASA).
• NASA plans to operate the station through 2030, and SpaceX is building the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle to bring it down safely (NASA).

Would you want to live up there?

Sources

• NASA, What Is the International Space Station?
• NASA, Space Station Facts and Figures
• NASA, Space Station Visitors by Country (updated Oct 1, 2026)
• NASA, 25 Years of Continuous Human Presence
• NASA, Launch of First Crew to the ISS
• NASA, U.S. Deorbit Vehicle selection
• NASA, ISS Transition Plan FAQ

Images

• "ISS-56 International Space Station fly-around (05)", NASA/Roscosmos, public domain
• "ISS Expedition 1 crew portrait", NASA, public domain
• "View of the ISS taken during Crew-2 flyaround (ISS066-E-081311)", NASA, public domain
• "Axiom Mission 3 at the ISS", NASA/Jasmin Moghbeli, public domain
• "ISS-56 International Space Station fly-around (11)", NASA/Roscosmos, public domain