NASA releases first shuttle and space station family portrait

William Atkins
Wednesday, 08 June 2011 05:02

Science - Space

NASA just released a photograph taken by a crew member of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft as it backed away from the International Space Station while the space shuttle Endeavour was docked to it.

 

NASA says it was the first time both spacecraft were photographed together from the vantage point of another spacecraft traveling a distance from the Space Station.

European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Paolo Nespoli, a former flight engineer of the Expedition 27 crew onboard the International Space Station (ISS), took the photograph as he and two other former Expedition 27 members were heading home onboard the Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft.

The other two Soyuz members were Russian cosmonaut and Expedition 27 commander Dmitry Kondratyev, and NASA astronaut and Expedition 27 flight engineer Cady Coleman.

The Soyuz spacecraft had just undocked from the ISS when the photograph as taken on May 23, 2011.

The three spacecraft were at an altitude of approximately 220 miles (355 kilometers) above the Earth.

NASA states, 'It is the first-ever image of a space shuttle docked to the International Space Station.'

See this exciting photograph at the NASA website 'Image Gallery.'

Make sure you click on the "Full Screen" image of the photograph, on the lower-left of the screen.