Introduction Letter

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION 20TH ANNIVERSARY

FIRST ELEMENTS LAUNCH

Anticipation and a cold wind greeted us early on the morning of November 20, 1998. We were anxious to begin the ISS, but not sure where it would take us. November 20, 2018 marked 20 years since that day when we launched the International Space Station’s first module, Zarya, into orbit. It took more than a dozen years and 40 separate launches to assemble the initial configuration of station. Today, the space station is the largest, most complex vehicle ever to orbit Earth and has been continuously occupied for more than 18 years.

On the ISS, we’ve accomplished an unprecedented amount of work, with more than 2600 scientific investigations conducted by researchers from more than a hundred countries. Our knowledge of how the human body works in micro-gravity continues to increase, and we continue to test new technologies that will enable humans in space to explore further beyond Earth than ever before.

There is much more to come from medical research aboard the ISS National Laboratory. You’ll be hearing a lot about human organs on chips, a medical breakthrough that may revolutionize the way we model and develop medicine, as well as several other on-going investigations. The research conducted in space will be used to benefit humanity here on Earth.

One of our greatest challenges has been to foster commercial industry in low- Earth orbit. In the coming years we will meet this challenge head-on with our commercial partners. Today on ISS, we have commercial companies developing and operating facilities, designing and testing modules, as well as companies focusing on transporting cargo and crew. Boeing’s Starliner and SpaceX’s Crew Dragon are set to carry astronauts to the station for the first time in the very near future. We expect the cadence of flights, the number of crew on-board, and the amount of scientific research conducted on the orbiting laboratory to increase. The space station is evolving, and the pace of its evolution is speeding up.

There’s a lot happening on the International Space Station and the best way to keep up to date is to follow the program online. Follow us on NASA.gov, and on our social media channels, including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Thanks for your interest in our International Space Station.

Regards,

KIRK SHIREMAN

International Space Station Program Manager