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November 02, 2015

Ranking Members Johnson and Edwards Congratulate NASA and its ISS Partners of 15 Years of Continuous Operation

(Washington, DC) - Today marks a major milestone in NASA’s proud history of human space exploration. NASA and its international partners have now continuously occupied the International Space Station (ISS) for 15 years. On November 2, 2000, the crew of Expedition 1 arrived at the space-based laboratory; Commander William Shepherd of NASA and cosmonauts Sergei Krikalev and Yuri Gidzenko of Roscosmos formed that first team. Their mission marked the start of an uninterrupted human presence on the complex that has seen the station grow into a sprawling laboratory the size of a football field. Today, six members of Expedition 45 occupy the ISS, including Station Commander Scott Kelly and Flight Engineer Kjell Lindgren of NASA. Commander Kelly is on a one-year mission to research the effects on the human body of an extended stay in a microgravity environment.

Ranking Member Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) said:

“I have been steadfast in my support of the ISS for its role in furthering research, human spaceflight, and inspiring the next generations, and also for the incredible engineering achievement that it represents and its visible demonstration of peaceful cooperation in space among multiple nations for more than a decade. I congratulate NASA and its international partners for continuously occupying the ISS for 15 years.”

Space Subcommittee Ranking Member Donna F. Edwards (D-MD) said:

“About a year ago, through a downlink with the ISS, House Science, Space, and Technology Committee members had the opportunity to communicate with the NASA crew aboard the ISS, including NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman from Maryland. It was a thrill connecting in real-time with our astronauts who are living, working, and carrying out research in a laboratory orbiting 250 miles above us every 90 minutes. The importance of that research cannot be understated: critical work needs to be done on the ISS in the areas of human-health research and technology development if we are going to make progress toward the long-term goal of sending humans to Mars. I congratulate NASA and its international partners on reaching today’s milestone and look forward to NASA’s incorporation of lessons learned from Commander Kelly’s one-year mission.”