Guy Clicks Space Station Pic In Front Of Moon, 400 Km Away From Earth
He managed to capture images of the International Space Station in front of the moon, but while it was being prepped for the Extra-Vehicular Activity or EVA.
Space photographer Andrew McMcarthy is known to capture some rather crazy images of space through his telescope, however, this time he took it to the next level, by capturing the International Space Station at a rare stance.
Cosmic Background
He managed to capture images of the International Space Station in front of the moon, while it was being prepped for the Extra-Vehicular Activity or EVA. But he wasn¡¯t expecting that, when he was setting up his camera for capturing the image, at around 2:44 AM.
He only wanted to capture the ISS pass by with the Moon in the background.
Cosmic Background
However, on Twitter, he shared the image where he also noted how at first glance, it appeared as if the solar arrays of the ISS were missing.
He states, ¡°Half the solar arrays appear to be missing at first glance. That's because despite being in a configuration requiring them to be face on towards Earth (also the direction of the sun) half of the arrays are seen edge-on. So why Is this happening?¡±
Twitter: @AjamesMcCarthy
He later added, ¡°As it turns out, this was done in prep for an EVA. So nothing to worry about! And I got a cool, rare picture. Over my favorite crater (Copernicus) no less.¡±
The spacewalk
And in case you were following the news, astronauts aboard the ISS actually had a spacewalk scheduled. Astronauts Kate Rubins and Victor Glover conducted a spacewalk at around 6:12 AM ET, which ended around 1:16 PM ET.
The roughly six-hour spacewalk was conducted in order to conduct a few upgrades on the floating space station. The upgrades were made to the solar array by assembling and installing modification kits.
The upgrade was conducted on solar arrays (which still functioned just fine) due to degradation over time. The solar panels have a roughly 15-year lifespan and they were first installed sometime in December 2000.
NASA
Astronauts are going to place new solar arrays in front of six of the arrays that are currently in place on the ISS this year, which will also considerably raise ISS¡¯s power from 160 kilowatts to 215 kilowatts.
The next spacewalk is scheduled for March 5, by Kate Rubins and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi.
