Photographing two astronauts from Earth while walking in space

When the astronauts leave International Space Station (ISS) to perform extra-vehicular activities (the so-called “space walkIt is always a unique show. Thanks to the images transmitted by the International Space Station, we can see men and women wrapped in their space suits, while behind them there is only the vast, dark expanse of space. We said it was a unique show. But it’s even more exciting if the spacewalks come in. Earth.

This is achieved by astrophotographer Sebastian Voltmer, who a few days ago pointed his telescope at the sky from the German city of Sankt Wendel, where European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Matthias Maurer was born. Maurer and NASA colleague Raja Chari were immortalized by Voltmer during their spacewalk on March 23.

Six days ago, the two astronauts participated in an extravehicular activity that lasted nearly seven hours to maintain the orbital station. The next day, Voltmer immediately posted the photo taken from the telescope on Twitter, commenting: “Yesterday I attended a spacewalk shortly after sunset. This is the first picture. ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer was now “climbing”. The Canadarm2 is the robotic arm. Greetings from Mathias Maurer’s hometown – it was very exciting“.

After a more in-depth analysis of the image with the help of photographer Philip Smith, Voltmeier noticed that astronaut Shari also appeared in the image. “I feel like I just made a unique picture. This may be the first Earth image showing two astronauts on the International Space Station at the same time.” Voltmer wrote on SpaceWeather.com.