Twenty years ago, the three-member Expedition 1 crew launched to the International Space Station atop a Soyuz rocket from Kazakhstan. It was the last time that all of the human race was here together on Planet Earth. 1/

Since then the ISS has been continuously occupied, with 240 people from 19 countries visiting. The station itself has been gradually expanded over the decades of spaceflights and crews into the orbiting research lab we know now. 2/
https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/iss20_celebrating_20_years.pdf

If you haven’t ever seen inside it, this tour by Commander Sunita Williams is a great introduction. She’s an absolute badass who also completed the first marathon and the first “triathlon” in space. 3/

The ISS stays in orbit by completing “reboosts” with the help of visiting space vehicles. Last month it completed an emergency manoeuvre to avoid space junk, something that it has done 25 times before.4/ https://www.sciencealert.com/the-space-station-had-to-make-emergency-maneuvers-to-dodge-an-object-today

One of the many things I love about the ISS is how easily it is to see with the naked eye. There are a bunch of sites that will tell you when it’s passing over your location (I like https://www.heavens-above.com/ ) and you can go outside and wave to the astronauts overhead. 5/

Also you can build it out of LEGO. 6/ https://www.sachajudd.com/iss-lights 

You can rightly criticise money spent on space exploration when we have so many challenges we face here on the ground, but I prefer to be “both/and”. I continue to be delighted and inspired by the scientific endeavour of pushing out into the unknown. 7/ https://www.sciencefocus.com/space/five-things-the-iss-has-done-for-us/

Plus, it’s incredibly soothing to just watch the view of Earth from the ISS live whenever you need a change in perspective. 8/8