Video Tour of the International Space Station

A reader writes with an excerpt from Bad Astronomer Phil Plait, writing at Slate: "Before she came back to Earth in a ball of fire surrounding her Russian re-entry capsule, astronaut Sunita Williams took time out of her packing for the trip home to give a nickel tour of the International Space Station. ... I know the video's long, but if you have the time I do suggest watching the whole thing. I have very mixed feelings about the space station; it cost a lot of money, and in my opinion it hasn't lived up to the scientific potential NASA promised when it was being designed. But watching this video reminded me of the good that's come out of it: There is science being done there; we're learning how to design and build hardware for long-term space travel; we're learning just how to live in space (and NASA just announced it will be sending humans into space for an entire year, an unprecedented experiment); and we're finding new ways for nations and individuals to cooperate in space."

Re:unprecedented ?

[jonadab]

Something about Russian culture makes long periods of isolation more tolerable for them somehow (or perhaps their society is more accepting of the mental irregularities that result from overdoing it, which I guess ultimately amounts to basically the same thing). Their Antarctic teams routinely winter-over at Vostok two years in a row; whereas, the Americans at Amundsen-Scott have to cycle out every summer.