11 years ago today, the first Expediton crew boarded the International Space Staton for the first time, beginning the continuous occupation of the station by crews from then to now. Twenty nine expeditions of Astronauts and Cosmonauts from many different countries have either visited the orbiting complex or lived aboard it for many months at a time since November 2 2000. And in a further bit of good news for the international partners, the Progress 45 supply spacecraft successfully docked to the station bringing 2 1/2 tons of food, fuel, experimental hardware and spare parts to the station's three man crew.
The successful launch, orbital rendezvous and docking of the Progress makes almost certain the upcoming launc of the remainder of the Expedition 29 crew to the orbiting outpost November 14.
And China successfully docked their unmanned Shenzhou 8 spacecraft to the already orbiting Tiangong experimental space station module in orbit, bolstering hopes that China will be able to launch and operate a future crewed space station, starting in the middle of the decade, and send crews on missions in earth orbit for much the same reasons the US and international partners do with the International Space Station.
China repeatedly asked to become a partner with the US, but their human rights abuses and increasingly military might weighed against both the Bush and Obama Administrations from letting China join the 16 nation project, working for 11 years in orbit now.
I personally wish any and all spacefaring nations success in their ventures beyond the Earth's atomsphere, as there is plenty for every nation to do in opeining up the Final Frontier for everyone.
