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

In 2011, the latest photographic survey of the ISS was performed for the last time.

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 the first 8K video filmed aboard the ISS had been marked by two milestones in the history of the research center orbiting the satellite. 2, the space station celebrated 18 years of continuous habitation by a crew of astronauts, recently reported Inquisitr . Another big birthday is planned this month, while the ISS will celebrate 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 breathtaking photographic survey. of the space station while they were flying over the ISS on their return to Earth, reports Spaceflight Now .

The spectacular shots show the outside of the orbital post, photographed from several angles. it also shows our planet in the background. It is the first photographic study 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 an overflight of the station when the last space shuttle mission departed in July 2011."

A Soyuz crew captured Spectacular images of the International Space Station during the overflight of the outpost in orbit last month, the first photographic study of this type since 2011. See photos: https://t.co/ueG6UbfbeS pic.twitter.com/G2yqQn1Pyf

– SpaceFight Now (@SpaceflightNow) November 3, 2018

Photos were published earlier this week by the Russian space agency Roscosmos and NASA, and are available on the website Spaceflight Now . 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 reported by the Inquisitr at the time, astronauts Drew Feustel of NASA – commander of the ISS during the expedition 56 – and Ricky Arnold, as well Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos, left the space station in early October.

The trio boarded the Soyuz MS-08 capsule that took them to the space station center in March and flew over the ISS to take the photos before heading to Earth for their long-awaited return to the country. . After Spaceflight Now snapshots were taken by Feustel, who filmed the images through a window of the capsule's home module.

The ISS is a grandiose construction of nearly 420 metric tons and has been badembled in space over more than 30 missions spanning a decade whole.

"The space The 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 Lab. US National 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 is translated as "sunrise" – was sent into orbit on November 20, 1998 atop a Proton Russian rocket.

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