The first module of the International Space Station, the Russian module known as Zarya, reached orbit on November 20, 1998. Since the arrival of Expedition 1 on 2 November 2000, the station has been continuously occupied, the longest continuous human presence in space. (In 2010, the station surpassed the previous record of almost 10 years (or 3,634 days) held by Mir.) The station is currently serviced by a variety of visiting spacecraft: the Russian Soyuz and Progress, the European Space Agency’s Automated Transfer Vehicle, the Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle, and the American Dragon and Cygnus. It has been visited by astronauts and cosmonauts from 15 different nations.

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