From Earth, photographer records astronauts walking in space; see photo

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image: Sebastian Voltmer / reproduction

Last week, astrophotographer Sebastian Voltmer captured two astronauts from the International Space Station (ISS) on a spacewalk.

Astronauts Raja Chari, from NASA, and Matthias Maurer, from the European Space Agency (ESA), were photographed while doing maintenance activities outside the ISS, last Wednesday (23). It was seven hours of maintenance, enough for the records.

Here on Earth, astrophotographer Voltmer aimed his lens to observe them and soon managed to capture all the action. Apparently, this is the first image taken of Earth that records two people walking in space at the same time.

To obtain the record, the independent photographer relied on advanced equipment: an 11-inch Celestron EdgeHD personal telescope, installed on a GM2000 HPS tripod and an ASI290 planetary camera.

On his Twitter, the photographer celebrated the record and commented that he watched the activity shortly after the sun went down. In the first image, the European astronaut Maurer appears “climbing” the ISS, while the robotic arm (Canadarm2) assists in the maintenance activity.

Yesterday I saw the #spacewalk shortly after sunset. Here comes the first photo. #ESA #astronaut Matthias Maurer was just “climbing” at this moment.
The rod-shaped structure (Canadarm2) is the robot arm.
Greetings from Matthias Maurers hometown – it was very exciting. #iss pic.twitter.com/39Q7YlG64u

— Dr. Sebastian Voltmer (@SeVoSpace) March 24, 2022

The astrophotographer took the picture from his backyard in the German town of Sankt Wendel – which, coincidentally, is also the hometown of astronaut Matthias Maurer. After detailing where his fellow countryman was, Voltmer published another image where astronaut Raja Chari is featured.