The setting sun transforms the Earth’s atmosphere into a prism of colors in this orbital view.

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) snapped this image of the setting Sun on Aug. 10 during the current Expedition 13 mission to the orbital outpost.

Expedition 13 commander Pavel Vinogradov and flight engineer Jeffrey Williams have lived aboard the ISS since their arrival on April 1, though their crewmate Thomas Reiter just arrived at the station on July 6.

The three astronauts are expecting the arrival of NASA’s space shuttle Atlantis later this month, which is slated to launch toward the ISS on Aug. 27 and dock two days later.

Atlantis’ STS-115 mission will deliver a new solar array to the ISS and two segments for the station’s main truss, which serves as a sort of orbital backbone for the space-based laboratory.

• Complete Coverage: ISS Expedition 13
• NASA’s STS-115: Shuttle Atlantis to Jump Start ISS Construction
• Complete Space Shuttle Mission Coverage

-- Tariq Malik

Credit: NASA/JSC.