The first Zarya module of the station is set for launch on November 20.

CNN: Russia reluctant to let Mir die

Zarya was launched on November 20, 1998 on a Proton rocket.

CNN: Spacewalkers hang experiments on Alpha

Earlier Thursday, new Alpha commander Frank Culbertson and Russian flight engineers Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin beamed down a message marking the one-thousandth day in space for the first component of the space station, the Russian-built Zarya module.

CNN: Spacewalkers hang experiments on Alpha

"We're here today to wish the international space station some greetings itself because today is the one-thousandth day that the first component of the station has been on orbit , " Culbertson said as he floated in Zarya with Dezhurov and Tyurin.

CNN: Spacewalkers hang experiments on Alpha