As the International Space Station reaches 25 years in orbit since its insertion in 2000, PBS’s NOVA is rolling out a two-part documentary, Operation Space Station, that examines both the formidable engineering behind the orbital outpost and the science that has defined its mission. The first installment, Operation Space Station: High-Risk Build, debuts Nov. 5, 2025 at 9 p.m. ET, and the follow-up, Operation Space Station: Science and Survival, airs Nov. 12, 2025 at 9 p.m. ET. Both episodes will stream on PBS.org/NOVA, NOVA’s YouTube channel and the PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel.

Produced by Blink Films for GBH in association with France Télévisions, and written and directed by Oscar Chan, the two-part series appears poised to balance technical narrative with human storytelling. By dedicating the opening episode to the station’s construction and the second to the scientific and operational challenges that have followed, NOVA is framing the ISS as both an engineering achievement and an evolving laboratory whose value is measured in experiments, international cooperation and long-term sustainability.

The choice to celebrate the ISS now underscores broader shifts in how the space industry and the public perceive low Earth orbit. The station has served as a symbol of multinational collaboration—anchored by partners including NASA, Roscosmos, ESA, JAXA and others—while also hosting long-running research on human health, materials science and Earth observation. NOVA’s retrospective arrives amid accelerating commercial interest in LEO, nascent plans for commercial space stations and an evolving balance between governmental and private sector roles. The documentary’s emphasis on both "build" and "science" highlights the dual pressures of maintaining aging infrastructure and translating decades of research into tangible, often commercial, applications.

From a media-business perspective, PBS’s distribution strategy for Operation Space Station exemplifies public broadcasting’s adaptation to a fragmented viewing environment. Simultaneous availability on the PBS website, YouTube and a Prime Video channel signals an intent to reach traditional public-television audiences while expanding viewership among cord-cutters and global viewers. This multi-platform approach also reflects financial realities: partnerships and streaming placements can broaden reach and bolster the funding model for high-budget science documentaries at a time when public media faces funding constraints.

Culturally, the NOVA series is likely to reinforce the ISS’s role as a touchstone for science education and public imagination. Anniversary programming can reawaken interest in STEM careers, inspire debate about the future of human presence in space and remind audiences of the political and logistical cooperation that made the ISS possible. PBS is further fostering public engagement by inviting viewers to join Space Forums to discuss ongoing missions and the night sky, and by soliciting tips and comments via community@space.com.

Operation Space Station arrives as both a commemoration and a prompt: to assess what the ISS has achieved, what the next decades of orbit might look like, and how storytelling and distribution choices will shape public understanding of humanity’s off-world laboratory.