Not long ago, on a quiet night in the desert, I lay on my back under the star-studded skies of the Negev. Around me sat a small group of curious souls, wrapped in thin blankets and clutching cups of hot mint tea. Just as I was showing them the Milky Way in all its glory, I noticed a bright point of light gliding across the firmament. “Look there,” I pointed enthusiastically, “that’s not a shooting star or a plane—that’s the International Space Station!” In a moment of shared silence, we all realized that at that very second, human beings were living and working up there, 400 kilometers above us. Who would have believed it?

The International Space Station (ISS) is one of humanity’s most magnificent adventures. It is a massive, fully-equipped laboratory orbiting the Earth at an average altitude of about 400 kilometers—higher than any airplane, lower than the Moon, and exactly at the spot where it “falls” around the Earth without crashing. Built in the late 1990s as a global collaborative project, NASA (USA), Roscosmos (Russia), the European Space Agency, Canada, and Japan joined forces to realize a dream that once existed only in science fiction. They launched components into space like a puzzle assembled in the sky, piece by piece, until the station took the shape of a structure the size of a football field, with giant solar panels flooding it with energy. It travels at a dizzying speed of about 28,000 km/h, completing an orbit every 90 minutes—meaning the astronauts there witness roughly 16 sunrises and sunsets every single day! Not bad, right?

So, what exactly do they do up there? Essentially, they live, work, and discover. Since November 2000, there hasn’t been a single second where the station was empty; rotating crews of astronauts have inhabited it continuously for a quarter of a century. The station serves as their home, office, and lab. On a typical day, you might find them floating inside a research module, conducting science in zero gravity: growing crystals and lettuce in space, testing how the human body changes far from Earth, photographing the planet from above for climate research, and repairing equipment while “spacewalking” inside the station. The rest of the time, they do perfectly ordinary things—eating (yes, with food floating off the plate), exercising two hours a day to maintain muscle mass (try running on a treadmill attached to the ceiling!), and sometimes just peeking out the large circular window to watch the world pass by below. Talk about a room with a view!

Over the past 25 years, the ISS has accumulated a string of incredible achievements. More than 280 men and women from over 20 countries have visited and lived there. Think about that: a representation of the entire world, people with different languages and flags, all calling this metallic structure in space “home” for short periods. They have performed thousands of scientific experiments that changed what we know: developing new medicines through microgravity research, 3D-printing spare parts in space (yes, that’s a thing), and successfully growing plants—including flowers and chili peppers—in tiny orbital gardens. The station has also broken endurance records, with people living there for nearly a consecutive year to study the effects on the human body. And all of this happened while, back on the ground, nations continued to challenge one another. Up there on the station, Americans, Russians, Europeans, Japanese, and others work shoulder-to-shoulder, sharing meals (heated in a spacecraft) and occasionally playing zero-gravity soccer with an empty tea bag. If that isn’t a symbol of international cooperation, what is?

For me, as a star guide and someone who has dreamed of space since I was a child, this station is more than just a scientific facility. It is a symbol. Every time I catch it in the corner of my eye—a tiny point of light moving silently against the night sky—my heart skips a beat. I am reminded of the boy who sat by the window at home, looking at the moon and imagining space stations just like this one. Today, as “Uri from the Desert” showing people the stars, I feel like the ISS is an old friend waving hello from above on every pass. It reminds me that sometimes reality exceeds all imagination: what was once a fantasy of sci-fi writers has become a thriving laboratory orbiting the Earth. It is also a reminder that the starry sky is not a border—it is an invitation. An invitation to dream, to ask: where else will we go? Perhaps one day, when we celebrate this station’s 30th (or even 50th) anniversary, a new station will be on its way—maybe orbiting the Moon, or even Mars.

That night in the desert, as we bid farewell to the glowing speck that faded into the east, I smiled to myself. The cool breeze blew through the bushes, and the stars returned to steal the show. I poured myself another cup of tea, feeling as though I were celebrating the birthday of a distant friend. 25 years on the International Space Station—what a marvelous thing we have managed to create! When you lift your eyes to the sky and see it, you can’t help but feel a bit of pride in what humans can achieve together. So, the next time you sit outside at night under the stars and see a point of light flying overhead, know this: you are not alone. We have family in space, too. And the Space Station? It might only be a small “dot” in the dark sky, but it proves that the drive to reach the stars is as vast and powerful as the universe itself.