Astronomy Picture of the Day

Explanation: Photographed from the approaching Space Shuttle Endeavour, the Mir space station floats above the clouds of planet Earth. Mir's modular construction, bristling with solar panels and antennas, lends it a slightly whimsical, insect-like appearance. Astronaut Andrew Thomas was dropped off on Mir by Endeavour in January and recently picked up the Space Shuttle Discovery during STS-91, the ninth and last Mir docking mission. Thomas' 4 1/2 month stay culminates the shuttle-Mir program in which seven U.S. astronauts spent a total of 977 days with Russian crews on board Mir. The experience gained will be applied toward the construction of the International Space Station scheduled to begin with launches in November and December 1998.

在攝於進站的奮進號太空梭上的這幅影像裡，和平號太空站（Mir）漂浮在地球雲層的上方。 而從和平號的模組化結構體伸出的眾多太陽能板和天線，讓它形似帶著喜感的昆蟲。 太空人安德魯·托馬斯在今年1月搭乘奮進號抵達和平號，然後最近在STS-91任務（第九次、也是最後一次的和平號停泊任務）中，搭乘發現號太空梭返回地球。 在托馬斯的4個半月停留，總結了太空梭-和平號計劃，前後有七名美國太空人，在和平號上與俄羅斯組員共處了977天。 所獲得的經驗將應用於建造國際太空站，依計劃新太空站預定在1998年11月和12月進行多次發射開始組裝。