The Challenges of Photography Aboard the ISS

By Nancy Atkinson - March 11, 2013 at 9:25 PM UTC | Space Exploration

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.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com