The First Crew Moves into the International Space Station

On 2 November 2000, American commander Bill Shepherd and Russian flight engineers Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev docked their Soyuz TM-31 capsule with the aft port of the Zvezda module. Launched two days earlier from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the trio opened the hatches and entered the station to begin activating the outpost. This arrival formally inaugurated Expedition 1, opening an unbroken sequence of human habitation aboard the station that persisted for decades. The mission merged two distinct space programs, pairing Shepherd, a former Navy SEAL whose earlier spaceflight experience came from three shuttle missions, with veteran cosmonauts possessing extensive long-duration experience from the Mir station.

Initial operations demanded strenuous physical labor to make the orbital complex livable. The crew had to activate, and in some cases install, critical systems such as the toilet, the air revitalization and carbon dioxide removal systems, and the computer network, and switching on a food warmer in Zvezda's galley was among their first jobs. They communicated with flight controllers largely through Russian equipment in Zvezda and Zarya, supplemented by early S-band gear in the U.S. Unity module. Logistical pressure grew on 18 November when the automatic rendezvous system of the Progress M1-4 cargo vessel malfunctioned, and Gidzenko used a tele-operated control system to guide the craft to a successful docking.