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Nowadays, we are used to taking breathtaking photos on the International Space Station, but the latest NASA astronaut, Christina Koch, posted on Twitter comes with a special message, too.
The picture shows the Soyuz MS-15 spaceflight leading three people to the ISS: cosmonaut Roscosmos Oleg Skripochka and NASA astronaut Jessica Meir as part of the 61 expedition , and Hazzaa Ali Almansoori of the United Arab Emirates, whose mission on the ISS will last eight days. .
The photo is all the more special as it marks a beautiful moment in the friendship of Koch and Meir. They were training astronauts and are now on board the ISS, where they will live and work until next February.
"What does @Space_Station look like when your best friend realizes her dream of always going into space", Koch writes. "Caught the second stage in progress! We look forward to welcoming you on board, crew of Soyuz 61!"
What does it look like @Space station when your best friend realizes her dream of always going into space. Took the second step in progress! We are looking forward to welcoming you on board, crew members of the Soyuz 61! pic.twitter.com/Ws7tInY58P
– Christina H Koch (@Astro_Christina) September 25, 2019
This mention of the "second floor" refers to the multi-stage rockets used to put a spacecraft into orbit: each of them burning with propellant, it is dropped to reduce its weight. It is an effective (although very expensive) way to get people into space. That's why scientists started experimenting with reusable rockets for some missions.
For another point of view, here is what the same event looked like from the ground up.
The current mission of the ISS marks some milestones. By the time Christina Koch returns home, she will have made the longest flight of a woman, a total of 335 days. Hazzaa Ali Almansoori is the first Emirati to reach space.
Koch, Meir and their fellow astronauts will be busy over the next five months. The team's agenda aims to replace 12 used batteries around the ISS, and new spacewalks are planned to repair the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, designed to measure antimatter in cosmic rays.
If the job is busy, at least the view will be fantastic. The latest shot of Koch joins many previous photos shared by the residents of the ISS: hurricane photos, the passage from day to night and a moon of blood.
From time to time, the ISS appears itself in a dramatic photo shoot, reminding us how big the universe is and how small we are in comparison.
Jessica Meir seems happy to start. "Enter through the hatch and see all those familiar faces … we already feel like home," she said after getting moored, as reported by CBS. "It will be six incredible months."
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