NASA is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the ISS by inviting crew members aboard the station

NASA and its astronauts are celebrating 25 years since the International Space Station entered orbit.

The Central Space Agency will Broadcast live chat The Expedition 70 crew and NASA Associate Administrator Robert Cabana and Joel Montalbano, space station program manager, at 12:25 p.m. ET.

The ISS was launched on November 25, 1998, but it was only on December 6 of that year that Unity, one of the first elements of the ISS, docked with the already orbiting Zarya module, according to NASA.

Unity currently connects the American and Russian sections of the station There the group eats together.

Cabana was the commander of the mission to connect the two modules and the first American to enter the ISS.

There is a station Since growing up Six bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a gymnasium the size of an American football field made up of several areas for scientific research.

NASA’s Kennedy Space Center’s X (formerly known as Twitter) account congratulated the space station on Wednesday.

„Since the addition of the Zarya and Unity modules in 1998, we have supported 80 of the 275 launches for ISS construction, resupply and crew support, including … 37 Space Shuttle[s]33 cargo delivery and 10 crew spacecraft,” The Mail According to

The space station has been continuously occupied for more than 23 years, „testing technologies, implementing science and developing capabilities needed to explore far from Earth,” NASA said in a press release.

According to NASA, 273 people from 21 countries have visited the station and conducted more than 3,300 probes.

However, the space station program will come to an end before long. NASA has noticed signs of weakening and aging in components, particularly its modules, radiators and central trusses.

The constant arrivals and departures of vehicles and the extreme heating and cooling cycles the ISS experiences every analog around Earth have worn the station down.

As NASA focuses more on projects like Artemis to return astronauts to the moon, that will be needed. More funds And „a clear congressional priority,” NASA expects Change Its operations in low orbit support commercially owned and operated space programs.

NASA has committed to having the space station operational by 2030. In 2031, NASA plans to orbit the ISS, and when it descends naturally, will target the elements to splash down in a remote, unpopulated area of ​​ocean.