There's officially been a human in space for 15 straight years


NASA astronaut Scott Kelly has lived on the International Space Station for 219 days and counting as part of a yearlong mission designed in part as a precursor to a potential Mars mission. The commander had a good time getting in the Halloween spirit from space, but now there's a much bigger occasion to celebrate.
Monday marks 15 straight years of human presence aboard the station, and the six-man crew of U.S., Russian, and Japanese astronauts will commemorate the anniversary with a special dinner, The Associated Press reports.
Since Nov. 2, 2000, 220 astronauts from 17 countries have taken up home in the orbiting lab. Collectively, they've eaten more than 26,500 meals. Let's hope at least some of them looked more appealing than this cheeseburger.
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Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.
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