A camera floats in midair by NASA astronaut Jeffrey Williams, who himself floats inside the International Space Station (ISS) as it floats in Earth orbit.

Here, Williams spends some time at a window in the station’s Russian-built Zevzda service module photographing the Earth.

Space station astronauts regularly photograph their home planet to capture their view of the topography, as well as document significant events such as volcanoes, immense fires and hurricanes. They also play a key role in inspecting the heat shields of NASA space shuttles during docking, when the orbiters expose their tile-lined bellies to ISS observers prior to station arrival.

Flight controllers at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) and in Russia’s Korolev – just outside of Moscow – alert the ISS astronauts of interesting events or views should the spacefarers have time to document them

Such was the case in March 29 – the day Williams launched to the ISS Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov and Brazilian astronaut Marcos Pontes – when the space station’s Expedition 12 crew captured stunning views of a rare solar eclipse from Earth orbit.

Williams, Expedition 13 flight engineer and NASA science officer, and the Vinogradov – the mission’s commander – are in their second month of a planned six-month stay aboard the ISS. The two astronauts will photograph the space shuttle Discovery’s heat shield during NASA’s STS-121 mission set to launch toward the ISS in July.

They are equipped with Kodak CDCS 660 digital cameras – including a 400 mm lens to resolve tile features down to 2.5 inches (6.3 centimeters) and an 800 mm equivalent lens for one-inch (2.5-centimeter) resolution.

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-- Tariq Malik

Credit: NASA/JSC.