November 2, 2000: Expedition 1, launched 2 days earlier from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, arrives at the International Space Station, carrying American astronaut William Shepherd and Russian "cosmonauts" Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev. For the 1st time, the ISS has people on board.
The Russian Federation, and its predecessor, the Soviet Union, had space stations for nearly 30 years by that point, running the Salyut (meaning "Salute") program from 1971 to 1986, and the Mir (meaning "Peace") from 1986 to 2001. The last Mir craft became a component of the ISS.
America's experience with space stations wasn't nearly as successful: Our one and only attempt before this, Skylab, was launched in 1973, and had 2 manned missions that year, and a 3rd that carried over into the new year of 1974, before it was deemed unfit for use, and burned up upon re-entry in 1979.
On the other hand, the U.S. was well ahead of the U.S.S.R. in terms of reusable spacecraft. We had 5 different Space Shuttles, though we eventually lost 2 of them; while their 1 and only, Buran (meaning "Blizzard"), flew only once, unmanned in 1988, was put into storage, and was destroyed when heavy snow caused its hangar's roof to collapse in 2002. So, they had the stations, while we had the means of getting to them.
The 1st module of the ISS was launched on November 20, 1998, a joint projected between NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration), Roscosmos (Russia), the CSA (Canadian Space Agency), the ESA (European Space Agency), and the JAXA (Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency).
The ISS averages 260 miles above the Earth, and usually has a crew of 7. In addition to America and Russia, it has hosted astronauts from Canada, Japan, Brazil, and the European nations of Britain, France, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland and Italy.
Currently, the ISS is projected to be in operation until 2031, at which point it will be directed to fall out of Earth orbit, and splash down into the Pacific Ocean, where it would be least likely to harm any people. However, no serious plan to replace it has yet been suggested.
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November 2, 2000 was a Tuesday. Baseball season had ended 7 days earlier, when the New York Yankees beat the New York Mets in the World Series. Football was in midweek. There were 7 games played in the NBA:
* The New York Knicks beat the Atlanta Hawks, 94-69 at Madison Square Garden.
* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Indiana Pacers, 94-88 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.
* The Houston Rockets beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 115-93 at The Summit in Houston. (The arena has since been converted into the Central Campus of the Lakewood Church, Dr. Joel Osteen's "megachurch.")
* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 103-91 at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
* The Denver Nuggets beat the Golden State Warriors, 101-97 at the Pepsi Center (now the Ball Arena) in Denver.
* The Phoenix Suns beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 108-82 at the America West Arena (now the Mortgage Matchup Center) in Phoenix.
* And the Vancouver Grizzlies beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 99-91 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.
And there were 6 games played in the NHL:
* The New York Rangers lost to the Ottawa Senators, 6-5 at the Corel Centre in the Ottawa suburb of Kanata, Ontario. (It's now the Canadian Tire Centre. The town was absorbed into Ottawa proper in 2001.)
* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-3 at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto.
* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Boston Bruins beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 5-4 at the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston.
* The Nashville Predators beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 3-1 at the First Union Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.
* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Atlanta Thrashers, 5-2 at the Philips Arena (now the State Farm Arena) in Atlanta.
* And the St. Louis Blues beat the Washington Capitals, 2-0 at the Savvis Center (now the Enterprise Center) in St. Louis.
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