Stunning Image of ISS Taken From the Ground Shows two Spacewalking Astronauts

In our age, we’ve grown accustomed to pictures of astronauts inside the International Space Station, as they float in zero-G and tend their science experiments. We’re even getting used to images of spacewalking astronauts. But this is something new.

An image of two astronauts on a spacewalk, taken from the ground.

The photographer is Sebastian Voltmer, an award-winning German photographer published in “Sky and Telescope” and numerous other publications. His astrophotography has been featured in exhibitions at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC, the Carl Zeiss Planetarium in Stuttgart, and numerous other places.

Voltmer took the image on March 23rd. It shows American astronaut Raja Chari and German astronaut Matthias Maurer during a six-hour spacewalk to install a camera and conduct maintenance and upgrades.

“It’s probably the first ground-based picture showing two spacewalkers on the ISS at the same time.”

Sebastian Voltmer, Astrophotographer Extraordinaire.

“This image of the ISS pass was taken on March 23, 2022, under good seeing conditions through my C11 EdgeHD telescope from the hometown of ESA astronaut Dr. Matthias Maurer,” Voltmer said at Spaceweather.com. “I feel like I just made a once in a lifetime image 🙂 It’s probably the first ground-based picture showing two spacewalkers on the ISS at the same time.”

Voltmer explained that when he took the image, he quickly presented it to German media showing Matthias Maurer, and it went viral. Voltmer continued to work on the image to highlight both astronauts. Philip Smith, another well-known photographer, contacted Voltmer to tell him that he had created an image that also highlights Raja Chari, perched on the Canadarm 2 robotic arm. (Full disclosure: I’m Canadian. Yay, Canada!)

Voltmer’s image is the first ground-based image of two ISS astronauts spacewalking. But back in 2011, amateur photographer Ralph Vandebergh captured images of American astronaut Steve Bowen during a spacewalk. Vandebergh was also on the Canadarm 2 in that image. (Double-Yay, Canada!)

Astronaut Stephen Bowen (inside the yellow box) was captured in this image during the March 2, 2011, spacewalk for STS-133. Credit: Ralf Vandebergh

Voltmer is a gifted and dedicated astrophotographer whose work is widely published. Check out his Instagram to see some of his gorgeous work, and follow him on Twitter.

Evan Gough

Recent Posts

Temperamental Stars are Messing With Our Exoplanet Efforts

We have the transit method to thank for the large majority of the exoplanets we've…

3 hours ago

A New Study Reveals How Dark Matter Dominated the Early Universe

During the 1970s, while probing distant galaxies to determine their mass, size, and other characteristics,…

5 hours ago

A Jumping Robot Could Leap Over Enceladus’ Geysers

Locomotion makes things move, and certain forms of locomotion make them move better than others.…

6 hours ago

JWST Finds the Smallest Asteroids Ever Seen in the Main Belt

The JWST was never intended to find asteroids. It was built to probe some of…

7 hours ago

Material from Alpha Centauri is Already Here

The appearance of the Interstellar Objects (ISOs) Oumuamua and Comet Borisov in 2017 and 2019,…

8 hours ago

NASA CubeSat Discovers New Radiation Belts After Intense Solar Storm

In a groundbreaking discovery, a NASA CubeSat has detected new radiation belts around Earth following…

9 hours ago