"Newly released portraits show the International Space Station together with the space shuttle, the vehicle that helped build the complex during the last decade. The pictures are the first taken of a shuttle docked to the station from the perspective of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
On May 23, the Soyuz was carrying Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Kondratyev, NASA astronaut Cady Coleman and European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli back to Earth. Once their vehicle was about 600 feet from the station, Mission Control Moscow, outside the Russian capital, commanded the orbiting laboratory to rotate 130 degrees. This move allowed Nespoli to capture digital photographs and high definition video of shuttle Endeavour docked to the station."
Amazing photo! Remember when the ISS was just a couple of big tin cans joined in space? People from more than 16 different nations have been involved in the work to design, build and support the station, which has had a permanent human crew since October 31, 2000. It will be completed on the final shuttle flight next month. It's so big you can easily see it with the naked eye as it passes overhead. NASA even has a website where you can enter your location and it will tell you when your next sighting opportunity is.
Too awesome for words. This is what humans are capable of when we work together.
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