Astronauts capture great photos of the International Space Station on their way back to Earth

The last time that a photographic survey on the ISS took place, it was in 2011.

For the first time in seven years, the International Space Station (ISS) was presented in a cosmic photo shoot intended to celebrate the long and fruitful existence of the orbital outpost.

NASA announced yesterday that NASA had announced two important months in the history of this research center in orbit. The first 8K video tour aboard the ISS was published by the space agency.

On November 2, the space station celebrated its 18th anniversary of continuous living with a crew of astronauts, the Inquisitr recently reported. Another big birthday will be announced later this month, as the ISS celebrates its 20th anniversary since the launch of its first module in space on November 20th.

To kick off the festivities, members of Expedition 55-56 performed a photographic stunning of the space station as they flew over ISS during their return to Earth, reports the newspaper. . Space Flight Now.

The spectacular snapshots showcase the outside of the orbital outpost, photographed from various angles that also show our planet in the background. This is the first photographic survey of the ISS since 2011 and aims to "document the external appearance" of the laboratory in orbit, notes the media.

"The last time astronauts captured such detailed images during a flyby of the station, it was when departing the last space shuttle mission in July 2011".

A Soyuz crew captured spectacular images of the International Space Station during a flyby of the orbiting outpost last month, the first such photographic study done since 2011. See photos: https : //t.co/ueG6UbfbeS pic.twitter.com/G2yqQn1Pyf

– Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) November 3, 2018

The photos were published earlier this week by the Russian space agency Roscosmos and NASA, and are available on the website Space Flight Now website. All images were captured on October 4 by the team of three members leaving the ISS to return home after a six-month stay in space.

As the Inquisitr Astronauts leaving the space station in early October were Drew Feustel of NASA – the commander of the ISS during the expedition 56 – and Ricky Arnold, as well as the Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos.

The trio embarked on the Soyuz MS-08 capsule that took them to the space station in March and flew it around the ISS to take pictures before heading back to Earth for their return to the long-awaited country. according to Space Flight NowThe snapshots were taken by Feustel, who filmed the images through a window of the housing module of the capsule.

The ISS is a grandiose construction weighing nearly 420 tons. She has been badembled in space during more than 30 missions over a decade.

"The space station is about the size of a football field: a 460-ton platform with a permanent crew orbiting 240 km above the Earth," notes the US National Laboratory ISS. "It is about four times larger than the Russian Mir space station and five times larger than the American Skylab."

The first segment of the orbital outpost – the Russian control module Zarya, which translates as "sunrise" – was sent into orbit on November 20, 1998 on top of a Russian Proton rocket.

The second element of the space station – the Unity module built in the United States – followed on 4 December of the same year and was put into orbit by Space Shuttle Endeavor. This was the first mission of the space shuttle dedicated to the badembly of the station.