The Space Station

The International Space Station, 1998 to now: built in orbit piece by piece, and lived in without a break since November 2000. Shuttles arriving and leaving, spacewalks, the Cupola, and the station crossing the Sun.

26 photographs · 1972 to 2026 · Mission 11 of 14
26 photographs
Michael Foale at the glovebox on the International Space Station, Expedition 8, 5 April 2004
Expedition 8 · 5 April 2004ISS008-E-20622

Hands in the Glovebox

For six months there were only two people on the station, and he was one of them.
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The aft end of Discovery during its pitch manoeuvre below the station, STS-120, 25 October 2007
STS-120 · 25 October 2007ISS016-E-005908

Turned for Inspection

Discovery rolled a slow full circle below the station so that every tile could be photographed from above.
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James Wetherbee and James Voss shaking hands aboard Discovery, STS-102, 10 March 2001
STS-102 · 10 March 2001STS102-323-003

Two Crews Shaking Hands

The first time one space station crew handed over to the next by shuttle.
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Chris Cassidy with a long lens in the Cupola, Expedition 36, 3 June 2013
Expedition 36 · 3 June 2013ISS036-E-006166

Earth Through a Long Lens

Every day the crew get a list of places to photograph. Much of the best work is what they spot on their own.
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Comet Lovejoy rising above Earth's airglow, Expedition 30, 22 December 2011
Expedition 30 · 22 December 2011ISS030-E-015472

The Comet That Survived

Six days earlier it had flown through the outer atmosphere of the Sun. Nobody expected it to come out the other side.
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Chris Cassidy photographing Luca Parmitano during a spacewalk, International Space Station, 16 July 2013
International Space Station · 16 July 2013ISS036-E-019660

A Camera Pointed Back

Chris Cassidy aiming a Nikon at Luca Parmitano, who was aiming one at him. Soon afterwards Parmitano's helmet began filling with water.
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Multispectral scanner mounted in the back of a truck, Landsat 1, May 1972
Landsat 1 · May 1972

The Road Test

Virginia Norwood's scanner, bolted into the back of a truck, on an eleven day loop through six test sites.
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Airglow along the Earth's edge beneath the Milky Way, International Space Station, 2025
International Space Station · 2025iss072e574408

Weather Made of Light

Bands of light along the edge of the atmosphere, and the Milky Way standing over them.
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The Milky Way and city light trails above Earth, International Space Station, 11 January 2025
International Space Station · 11 January 2025

Stars Still, Cities Moving

The stars are points and the cities are streaks. A tracking mount held the sky still while the Earth ran underneath.
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Los Angeles basin and the San Andreas Fault, Landsat 7, 4 May 2001
Landsat 7 · 4 May 2001PIA03372

Where the Fault Runs

The dead straight edge where the dark mountains meet the pale desert is the San Andreas.
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False colour test scan with vegetation in red, Landsat 1, May 1972
Landsat 1 · May 1972

Red Means Living

The scanner recorded near infrared as well as visible light. Growing plants come back red.
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Dallas and Fort Worth in false colour, Landsat 1, 25 July 1972
Landsat 1 · 25 July 1972

First in the Archive

Landsat 1 had been in orbit two days. This is frame one of a record that has run ever since.
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Four of the Cupola's seven windows, Expedition 36, 3 June 2013
Expedition 36 · 3 June 2013ISS036-E-005944

The Room for Looking

Cupola is the Italian word for the small domed room built on a roof to look out from. This one was made in Turin.
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Rocket exhaust spreading through the upper atmosphere above the Earth's edge, Artemis II, 1 April 2026
Artemis II · 1 April 2026ISS074-E-0431736

Watching Them Leave

The photographer was already in orbit, two hundred and sixty three miles up, when the Moon crew left.
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Dragon Endurance backing away after undocking, Crew-3, 5 May 2022
Crew-3 · 5 May 2022ISS067-E-035177

The Ride Down

Dragon Endurance backing away from the Harmony module with four Crew-3 astronauts inside. Splashdown was off Tampa the next day.
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The nose of Atlantis during its backflip manoeuvre, Atlantis, 10 July 2011
Atlantis · 10 July 2011ISS028-E-015116

The Last Backflip

Atlantis turned a slow somersault so the station crew could photograph its heat shield. It was the last time the manoeuvre was ever flown.
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A spacewalker removing window shutter bolts on the Cupola, International Space Station, 17 February 2010
International Space Station · 17 February 2010ISS022-E-066880

Opening the Windows

Every one of the Cupola's seven windows arrived bolted shut. Somebody had to go outside and undo them.
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Zarya in orbit with Unity in the foreground, Endeavour, 6 December 1998
Endeavour · 6 December 1998STS088-341-015

Sixteen Days Alone

Zarya had been flying by itself since launch. Unity, filling the bottom of the frame, was about to be lowered onto it.
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The station in silhouette against a partly eclipsed Sun, The Space Station, 12 August 2026
The Space Station · 12 August 2026NHQ202608120107

Seven People in Silhouette

The International Space Station crossed the face of a partly eclipsed Sun at about five miles a second. There were seven people inside it.
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Scott Parazynski repairing a torn solar array, Discovery, 3 November 2007
Discovery · 3 November 2007ISS016-E-009184

Mending a Solar Wing

The array tore as it unfurled. Scott Parazynski rode out on the end of the shuttle's inspection boom to sew it back together.
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The station with Endeavour docked, seen from a Soyuz, Endeavour, 23 May 2011
Endeavour · 23 May 2011ISS027-E-036700

On His Way Home

Paolo Nespoli photographed the station from his Soyuz on the way down, and was on the ground in Kazakhstan the same day.
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Atlantis departing with Raffaello in its payload bay, Atlantis, 19 July 2011
Atlantis · 19 July 2011ISS028-E-018039

Loaded and Leaving

Mike Fossum captured the last shuttle backing away from the station. The white cylinder in the bay is full of things going home.
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Tracy Caldwell Dyson looking out of the Cupola, Expedition 24, 11 September 2010
Expedition 24 · 11 September 2010ISS024-E-014263

Just Looking

Tracy Caldwell Dyson, off duty, at the window spacewalkers had gone outside to unbolt the previous February.
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The main engines at the aft end of Discovery, Discovery, 25 October 2007
Discovery · 25 October 2007ISS016-E-006226

Flown, Rebuilt, Flown Again

The three large bells at the centre are main engines. They were pulled out after every flight, overhauled and put back.
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Endeavour silhouetted against the layers of Earth's atmosphere, STS-130, 9 February 2010
STS-130 · 9 February 2010ISS022-E-062672

Three Layers of Sky

Endeavour on approach to the space station. The orange band along the bottom holds all of the weather there is.
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An uncrewed Crew Dragon closing on the station, International Space Station, 3 March 2019
International Space Station · 3 March 2019ISS058-E-027349

It Docked Itself

No pilot and no robotic arm. The only occupant was an instrumented test dummy named Ripley.
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The International Space Station, 1998 to now: built in orbit piece by piece, and lived in without a break since November 2000. Shuttles arriving and leaving, spacewalks, the Cupola, and the station crossing the Sun.

26 photographs · 1972 to 2026 · Mission 11 of 14
About The Space Station

The first two modules of the International Space Station, Zarya and Unity, were joined in orbit by the crew of STS-88 in December 1998. Crews have lived aboard without a break since 2 November 2000. These prints show shuttles docking and leaving, the last of them in July 2011, the Cupola and its seven windows, the Dragon capsules that carry crews now, and the station crossing a partly eclipsed Sun in August 2026. The collection also holds the first Landsat images of Earth, from 1972.