NASA Shares A Spectacular Image Of The ISS Transiting The Sun

The International Space Station has been in orbit for many years. The space station has been used as a platform for conducting various scientific research that has resulted in some great science over the years. Currently, the ISS is being serviced by both Russian and American spacecraft with a crew of international astronauts on board.

Recently, NASA shared a composite image, which can be seen above, which was created using seven individual frames. The composite image shows the ISS as it transits the surface of the sun. In the image, we can see the ISS in silhouette as it crosses the sun's face at a speed of about five miles per second. The transit occurred on Friday, June 25, 2021, and the image was taken near Nellysford, Virginia.

When the ISS transited the sun, there were seven astronauts on board who are all part of Expedition 65. Astronauts currently aboard the ISS include NASA's Megan McArthur, Mark Vande Hei, and Shane Kimbrough. An ESA astronaut is currently aboard the space station named Thomas Pesquet and a Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut, Akihiko Hoshide.

A pair of Roscosmos cosmonauts named Pyotr Dubrov and Oleg Novitskiy round out the international crew. Interestingly, when the ISS transited the sun, astronauts Kimbrough and Pesquet were conducting a spacewalk adding a Roll-Out Solar Array on the station's port 6 truss for the 4B power channel.

The two astronauts have made multiple spacewalks to install the new solar arrays on the space station to increase the amount of power available for research and operations. The ISS was due for a power upgrade to help it continue operating into the foreseeable future. There has been some question recently about the future of the ISS as Russia has threatened to withdraw from the project.