A truly out-of-this-world celebration broke out among NASA leadership on Nov. 2 despite a media blackout due to the government shutdown as humanity marked a continuous presence in outer space for 25 years, thanks to its enduring outpost in low Earth orbit: the International Space Station (ISS).
“On this day 25 years ago, Expedition 1 became the first crew to call the @Space_Station home, launching a continuous human presence in orbit,” Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy wrote on X on Nov. 2. “This would not have been possible without @NASA and its partners, as well as every astronaut and engineer who keeps the lights on in low Earth orbit.”…