Dextre, a large robotic manipulator to help with outside maintenence of the ISS was added in October of 2007. Credit: NASA
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Ten years ago, the first Expedition crew arrived at the International Space Station. Here’s a look back in time at how the station has changed and grown, and some of the people who were there to make it happen.
The configuration of the ISS when the first expedition crew arrived on Nov. 2, 2000. Credit: NASA
Expedition Two crewmembers Yury Usachev (left), mission commander, Jim Voss, flight engineer, and Susan Helms, flight engineer, share a dessert in the Zvezda Service Module. Credit: NASAThis image was taken on April 21, 2001 during Expedition 2; the first large solar arrays were added during the STS-100 space shuttle mission. Credit: NASAThe Expedition Five crewmembers in the Destiny laboratory on the ISS. From the left are cosmonaut Valery Korzun, mission commander; astronaut Peggy A. Whitson, who became the ISS’s first science officer, and cosmonaut Sergei Treschev. Credit: NASAThe Microgravity Science Glovebox was added to the Destiny lab on the ISS during Expedition 5. Credit: NASAThe Expedition Six crew pose for a crew photo in the Zarya module on the ISS; Don Pettit (front), science officer; cosmonaut Nikolai Budarin (left back), flight engineer; and astronaut Ken Bowersox, mission commander. Credit: NASADuring Expedition 6, the space shuttle Columbia accident occurred, and the shuttle program was on hold. ISS astronauts Don Pettit (left) and Ken Bowersox had to do a variety of maintenance tasks outside the ISS that normally visiting shuttle crews would have taken care. Credit: NASA.It was rather lonely times for awhile on the ISS -- with no space shuttles flying, only two crewmembers were able to be on board the ISS. Here are Expedition 7's Yuri Malenchenko and Ed Lu. Credit: NASAThe Russian Soyuz vehicle serves as transportation and rescue vehicle for the ISS. Credit: NASANew Crew member? No, this is the European Matroshka-R Phantom experiment, which operated during Expedition 12 in the Zvezda Service Module of the International Space Station. Matroshka, the name for the traditional Russian set of nestling dolls, is an antroph-amorphous model of a human torso designed for radiation studies. Credit: NASAStuff happens it space. During a spacewalk, Expedition 16 commander Fyodor Yurchikhin noticed damage to a multi-layer insulation (MLI) protective blanket on the Zarya module. The damage, he noted, was apparently from a micrometeoroid impact. The date the damage occurred is unknown but has had no impact to vehicle operations. Credit: NASA Shuttles returned to flight in July of 2005, and this is how the ISS looked when space shuttle Discovery visited, the first shuttle visit in over 2 years. Credit: NASAThe ISS as it looked in June of 2007, during the STS-117 mission. Credit: NASAThe backbone of the ISS is the huge truss, brought up to the ISS in smaller segments, which are still huge by themselves. Dave Williams, STS-118 mission specialist from Canada works outside the ISS, helping to attach the Starboard 5 (S5) segment, and works on the forward heat-rejecting radiator from the station's Port 6 (P6) truss. Credit: NASAA look inside the Harmony node that was brought to the ISS in on the STS-120 mission in 2007. Credit: NASSunita Williams, Expedition 15 flight engineer, works on a science experiment in April of 2007. Credit: NASABackdropped by the thin line of Earth's atmosphere and the blackness of space, a portion of the International Space Station is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 20 crew member aboard the station. in May 2009. Credit: NASAA torn solar array panel in the ISS, which was installed during the STS-120 mission. See below for the repair job. Credit: NASAThe repaired solar array, fixed by STS-120 astronauts. Credit: NASAEuropean Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Hans Schlegel, STS-122 mission specialist, works on the new Columbus laboratory that was installed in February 2008. Credit: NASAAstronauts work on adding the Japanese logistics module-pressurized section in March of 2008 during the STS-123 mission. Credit: NASADextre, a large robotic manipulator to help with outside maintenence of the ISS was added in October of 2007. Credit: NASAA motley-looking crew of the Expedition 17 and 18 crewmembers in the Harmony node in Oct. 2008. Credit: NASAHere's how the ISS looked durng the STS-128 mission in September of 2009. Credit: NASADuring the STS-130 mission in Feb. 2010, the Cupola and Tranquility Node were added. The Cupola provides unprecidented views of Earth and space from the ISS. Credit: NASAHow the ISS looked during the STS-130 mission in February 2010. Credit: NASAThe Russian Mini Research Module was added in May of 2010 on STS-132. Credit: NASANASA astronauts Shannon Walker (left), Expedition 24/25 flight engineer; Tracy Caldwell Dyson, Expedition 23/24 flight engineer; and Doug Wheelock, Expedition 24 flight engineer and Expedition 25 commander, pose for photo in the Poisk Mini-Research Module 2 (MRM2) of the International Space Station. How the ISS looks today (as of this writing), and as it looked following the STS-132 mission in May of 2010. Credit: NASA
Nancy has been with Universe Today since 2004, and has published over 6,000 articles on space exploration, astronomy, science and technology. She is the author of two books: "Eight Years to the Moon: the History of the Apollo Missions," (2019) which shares the stories of 60 engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make landing on the Moon possible; and "Incredible Stories from Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos" (2016) tells the stories of those who work on NASA's robotic missions to explore the Solar System and beyond.
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