I’ve been considering doing a series of posts showing my favourite 5 images for objects within the Solar System. With today’s Astronomy Picture of the Day showing the International Space Station, I’ve decided that the ISS is a good place to start!
Image 1:
The International Space Station is the largest object ever constructed by humans in space. The station perimeter now extends over roughly the area of a football field, although only a small fraction of this is composed of modules habitable by humans. The station is so large that it could not be launched all at once — it is being built piecemeal with large sections added continually by flights of the Space Shuttle. To function, the ISS needs huge trusses, some over 15 meters long and with masses over 10,000 kilograms, to keep it rigid and to route electricity and liquid coolants. Pictured here, part of the immense space station was photographed out of a window by a member of the visiting Space Shuttle Discovery STS-131 crew. Visible in the foreground is Japan’s Kibo research module, while a large truss is visible toward the left. On the far right, a crescent Earth slices through the blackness of space.
A Large Space Station Over Earth Credit: STS-131 Crew, Expedition 23 Crew, NASA
Image 2:
(9 Feb. 2010) — Backdropped by Earth’s horizon and the blackness of space, the International Space Station is featured in this image photographed by an STS-130 crew member as space shuttle Endeavour and the station approach each other during rendezvous and docking activities. Docking occurred at 11:06 p.m. (CST) on Feb. 9, 2010, delivering the Tranquility node and its Cupola.
Credit NASA
Image 3:
Astronaut Stephen Robinson rides the 17-meter-long Canadarm2 during the STS-114 mission of the space shuttle Discovery to the ISS in August of 2005. The Canadarm2 aboard the ISS has multiple joints and is capable of maneuvering payloads as massive as 116,000 kilograms, equivalent to a fully loaded bus.
Credit: NASA
Image 4:
High above New Zealand and Cook Strait, astronauts Robert L. Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang work to attach a new truss segment to the ISS and begin to upgrade the power grid on December 12th, 2006
Credit: NASA
Image 5:
A view of southern Egypt, Lake Nasser, and circular fields north of Sudan, seen from the International Space Station on March 1st, 2010. (NASA/JSC)
Credit: NASA