These astronauts’ travel photos are probably better than yours

Whether dangling out of a rollercoaster ride or stretching out in the classic “hot dog legs” pose, a self-taken photo of one’s legs and feet has become a common trope on social media –but this particular one is hard to beat.

Late last week, American astronaut Shane Kimbrough tweeted this astounding shot of his boots dangling about 200 miles above the Earth. It has since received over 2,000 retweets and almost 10,000 likes on Instagram.

The photograph was taken on March 24, when NASA expedition commander Kimbrough and his fellow astronaut, Thomas Pesquet completed a “space walk”. The exercise lasted six-and-a-half hours, in which the pair completed maintenance work on the outside of the International Space Station.

European Space Agency (ESA) engineer Pesquet also seized the occasion to take a special photograph of his own. On March 26, the French astronaut tweeted a picture of two wedding bands floating in space, accompanied by the caption: “In my 1.5 kg 'hand luggage', I brought the wedding rings of my friends getting married this summer! I'll be back in time to be their witness.”

He followed up with another tweet - including a recording of the Basement Jaxx song Magnificent Romeo - which read: “wedding rings from space, now that's a grand romantic gesture!”.

Kimbrough and Pesquet inspected a radiator valve and replaced cameras on the Japanese section of the Station during the space walk. In a move that will delight those who dream of space tourism, the astronauts also made adjustments to the mechanism of the International Docking Adapter, which NASA describes as a “physical connecting point for spacecraft”, but also “a metaphorical gateway” to a future of “commercial crew vehicle dockings”.

A further spacewalk is scheduled for Thursday March 30, which will be carried out by Kimbrough and NASA Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson. Whitson broke the record for the oldest woman to go into space last year, though she is only 57.

The astronauts continue to tweet and share images of the magnificent view they enjoy from aboard the ISS, including a stunning shot of the aurora borealis and some of the world’s most famous sights viewed from space.

For some terrestrial (but nonetheless vertigo-inducing) aerial shots, you can read about Instagram daredevil Angela Nikolau here - or if you prefer to stay in space, we have more awe-inducing shots from NASA’s Earth Observatory here.
 

Tim Peake space pictures