Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2001 April 30

Approaching the International Space Station
Credit: STS-100 Crew, NASA

Explanation: Earlier this month the crew of the US Space Shuttle Endeavor took in this view as they approached the developing International Space Station (ISS). The Endeavor and ISS crew installed Italy's Raffaello, a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module and successfully deployed Canada's Canadarm2, a robot remote-controlled arm that can move about the outside of the station. The shuttle undocked from the ISS yesterday and is scheduled to return to Earth today. A manned Russian Soyuz spacecraft is scheduled to dock with Earth's busiest orbiting outpost early today.

Tomorrow's picture: A Fast Big Bang?

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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA)
NASA Technical Rep.: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA/ GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.