Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

The Challenges of Photography Aboard the ISS

Astronaut Don Pettit with some of his cameras on board the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

Don Pettit has always been one of our favorite astronauts. From his “Saturday Morning Science” and “Science Off the Sphere” to his Zero-G coffee cup, he offered a take on living and working in space that was always just a bit different from the rest of the astronaut corps. During his last stay on the International Space Station, he took photography to a new level, and fellow astrophotographer Christoph Malin has paid a fitting tribute to Pettit with this wonderful new video, which not only showcases Pettit’s work (and Malin’s too!), but allows him to explain the challenges of astrophotography aboard the ISS.

“It can not be emphasized enough, how Dr. Pettits innovative photographic work and his passion has changed the way we see earth from space,” Malin wrote on his Vimeo page. You can read about the genesis of this project at Malin’s website.

Enjoy.

“Making the invisible visible” – the ISS Image Frontier from Christoph Malin on Vimeo.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Space Station Reaches Warp Speed?

The International Space Station appears to go to warp speed — a la Star Trek, Star Wars and almost every other space flick — in this new video created by Christoph Malin, who “stacked” image sequences that the ISS crew at International Space Station have been taking lately. These are the images that have been used to create the great timelapse videos, that provide a sense of what it is like to fly over the Earth on the space station. But this one is different, and as Malin says, “Stacks make interesting patterns visible, for example lightning corridors within clouds. One can also sometimes recognize satellite tracks and meteors – patterns that are not amongst the main star trails.”

Also visible is the Moon disappearing into the atmosphere and views from the ISS Cupola — gorgeous!
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