NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are still navigating their unexpectedly lengthy residency aboard the International Space Station. The pair has remained on the ISS since technical difficulties during Boeing Starliner’s inaugural transport mission after arriving in June. After weeks of troubleshooting, the spacecraft finally completed an uncrewed, remotely piloted landing at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico on September 7th. Before that, however, an astronomical photographer snapped a few shots of Starliner while docked with ISS high above Earth, providing a unique look at both the ISS and Boeing’s vehicle.
Felix Schöfbänker uploaded his images on December 12th to astronomy photography hosting site, Astrobin. He explained that he took the images on September 5th roughly 48.5 hours before Starliner undocked with the ISS for its return voyage to Earth. Both spacecraft were 270-287 miles above Earth at the time of the snapshots, which Schöfbänker captured using a Lacerta PlanetPro178GM imaging camera, and other equipment.
This isn’t the first time Schöfbänker managed to get shots of high-altitude orbital vehicles. Although both ISS and Starliner are public projects, glimpsing more secretive endeavors requires a bit more analysis and planning. In August, for example, Schöfbänker managed to photograph Shenlong, China’s highly classified, reusable space plane that is still orbiting Earth. Although grainy to the amateur observer, the new looks hinted at a few more details for the experimental vehicle, including what appear to be a pair of underside solar panels that may help power the plane during its yearslong missions.
[Related: China’s super-secret space plane spotted above Europe.]
Unique images of the ISS such as Schöfbänker’s recent photos also serve as a reminder that the structure is orbiting on borrowed time. The 356-feet-long, 450-ton habitat and research facility has remained in continuous operation for over 25 years, and is showing signs of deterioration such as software glitches and microscopic leaks in its hull. Although still a few years down the line (and later than first anticipated), SpaceX will reportedly construct an uncrewed “US Deorbit Vehicle” designed with the sole purpose of colliding with ISS, knocking it out of its orbital path and into Earth’s gravitational pull. From there, NASA will make sure the timing and calculations ensure the station burns up during atmospheric reentry, at which point any surviving debris will land in a remote area of the Pacific Ocean known as Point Nemo.
Regardless, the current schedule leaves space enthusiasts like Schöfbänker plenty of time to try to capture at least a few more shots of the ISS as it wraps up its historic tenure.
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