ISS marks 25 years of nonstop human presence in orbit

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — It’s an unprecedented space streak: 25 years of people living off-planet without even a moment’s pause.

The International Space Station marks a quarter-century of continuous occupancy this weekend, boasting a guest list of nearly 300 — mostly professional astronauts but also the occasional space tourist and movie director. The first full-time residents opened the hatch on Nov. 2, 2000.

With only five years left at the scientific outpost, NASA is counting on private companies to launch their own orbiting stations with an even bigger and wider clientele.

Here’s a look at what has been and what is ahead:

NASA’s Bill Shepherd and Russia’s Sergei Krikalev and Yuri Gidzenko took off in a Russian Soyuz rocket from Kazakhstan on Oct. 31, 2000. They reached the dark, humi