It has been 15 years since November 2nd, 2000, when Astronauts first occupied the International Space Station. Since then, it has been inhabited continuously by a team of up to six people. 220 citizens of Earth from 17 nations have flown with $100 Billion station over many 45 minute orbits of our planet.
The men and women who have spent time aboard the station have had a view of our world that so many people have never experienced. Seeing the planet as a planet, one of countless other worlds in a dark empty void dotted by stars, it changes your perspective on the world. If everyone could sit and see the Earth from space, if we could all understand how lonely our world is, how small it is, and how we really only have each other, maybe we would treat our planet and each other differently.
The International Space Station represents all of that. One Planet. The pale blue dot.