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Houston, we have a problem: Misinformation about the Space Station is spreading on Earth
If Your Time is short
- A crew of seven astronauts live and work on the International Space Station. It has been continuously occupied since 2000.
A Facebook post airing unfounded claims about space has an unfounded caption: "There are no humans on what they call the ‘International Space Station.’"
This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
The International Space Station has been continuously occupied since November 2000, an international crew of astronauts live and work on it, according to NASA.
Currently orbiting the Earth in the space station: Frank Rubio, Dmitri Petelin, Koichi Wakata, Josh Cassada, Nicole Mann, Sergey Prokopyev and Anna Kikina.
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NASA maintains a blog with updates about the station, including the Feb. 9 launch of an uncrewed rocket that departed from Kazakhstan to take fresh supplies to the station.
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Photos and videos of humans aboard the station are shared on the space station’s Twitter account, among other platforms. The astronaut with the U.S. record for spending the most time living and working in space? Peggy Whitson, who clocked 665 days in September 2017.
We rate claims that no humans are in the space station False.
Our Sources
Instagram post, Feb. 5, 2023
NASA, International Space Station Facts and Figures, Jan. 4, 2023
NASA, International Space Station Mission Summary, visited Feb. 9, 2023
International Space Station Twitter account, visited Feb. 9, 2023
NASA, Space Station blog, visited Feb. 9, 2023
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Houston, we have a problem: Misinformation about the Space Station is spreading on Earth
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