The orbiting laboratory has a unique view of Earth and its surroundings
JUST STEPPED OUT FOR A WALK
Astronauts train for many years for the chance to go to space, with no guarantee of actually flying, so being given a place on a mission to live on the International Space Station (ISS) for a few months is a dream come true. But some astronauts get to do even more – they wriggle into a spacesuit and go outside on an extravehicular activity (EVA), or spacewalk. This image, taken on 23 May 2017 during the 201st spacewalk of the ISS program, shows NASA astronaut Jack Fischer waving at his colleagues watching from inside the space station as he worked outside the US Destiny laboratory. Fischer was attaching antennae to the exterior of the ISS during an unplanned EVA to repair and replace a failed computer data relay box. Luckily, there was no malfunctioning computer to refuse to let him back inside…
A SKY FULL OF STARS
Whenever NASA posts an image on social media showing a beautiful view from the ISS, within minutes conspiracy theorists are declaring it’s a fake. One of their favourite comments is “Where are the stars? The sky should be full of stars!” This comes down to a lack of understanding of basic photography. The vast majority of images taken from the ISS are taken when it’s in daylight, and show Earth, or the ISS structure itself, brightly lit by the Sun. The exposures are far too short – fractions of a second – to record the faint stars in the sky. Exposures long enough to show the stars would burn out Earth and the ISS. But the astronauts aboard the ISS have magnificent views of the stars after sunset, and they do occasionally post images showing that view. This one, taken on 9 August 2015 by a member of the Expedition 44 crew, shows the star clouds of the Milky Way and dark lanes of dust across them.
SHUTTLE ORBITER FLY AROUND
Today we are used to seeing astronauts flying to and from the ISS inside small capsules, like the Russian Soyuz and SpaceX’s Crew Dragon. But between 1998 and 2011 a fleet of sleek snow-white Space Shuttle orbiters carried them. Much larger than the capsules used today, the reusable orbiters were carried piggyback-style into space by rockets, then landed on runways like aeroplanes at the end of their missions. Taken in July 2006, this spectacular image shows the Space Shuttle Discovery approaching the International Space Station. Before docking, Discovery flew around the ISS, posing for a number of inspection photos so the astronauts aboard the ISS could check for any damage to the spacecraft’s heat tiles. Clearly visible are the orbiter’s open payload bay doors and the European Space Agency’s Leonardo Multipurpose Logistics Module in its huge cargo bay.
FLYING THROUGH THE NORTHERN LIGHTS
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