Astronomical cost but astronomically worth it: international space station

NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) have released spectacular photographs from the International Space Station – 350 kilometres (220 miles) above Earth. Not photographs of Earth, but photographs of the module with a space shuttle docked – the first time that ISS has been photographed fully assembled and with a shuttle in its parking bay. It will also be the last time.

The Endeavour shuttle flew its final mission last month, in May. It has only one more mission as the new Atlantis prepares for launch next month, in July.

The photographs are amazing, not only because of the choreography taken to get the right shot, but also because they almost didn’t make it back to Earth (the photographs that is, not the astronauts).

Paolo Nespoli, an Italian astronaut, took the photos on May 23 from the window of the Soyuz, a Russian spacecraft, piloted by Commander Dmitry Kondratyev, as it flew past the ISS, an orbiting space laboratory (with personnel on board). Soyuz was 185 metres (600 feet) from ISS when Moscow rotated ISS 130 degrees to show its best side to the camera as it continued to orbit Earth at 28,150 kilometres per hour (17,500 miles per hour). NASA, ESA, and the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, all cooperated to get the best photo of the fully docked space station.

Unfortunately, Major Nespoli left the camera’s memory card in the Soyuz, after the Soyuz landed in the Kazakhstan desert. Everyone had to wait until the Soyuz was recovered and taken back to base before retrieving the photographs. But only the memory card was retained - the $8,000 camera (Nikon D3-X) had to be jettisoned in the Soyuz’s orbital module on its journey back to earth (it breaks away from the main body of the Soyuz and burns up in the atmosphere).

So, despite taking 13 years and an estimated $100 billion to take the photo it was worth it – it’s like the day you take a photo of the boat you built when it’s finally fully equipped!

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