Astronaut shares how he shot iconic selfie with Milky Way inside the Internation Space Station

Astronaut Matthew Dominick, who is currently on the International Space Station (ISS), has shared how he took a unique self-portrait. In the photo, he is looking out of the SpaceX Dragon capsule with the Milky Way in the background. It is quite the photo, and Dominick shared on X exactly how he created the photograph.

The shot was tough to get right. It had to be timed perfectly, with the Moon giving just enough light to see Dragon but still dark enough for the Milky Way to be visible.

Balancing the light inside Dragon was also tricky. Dominick explained this in a video he posted on X. He said he wanted to take a picture from the Boeing starliner, looking up at Dragon with the Milky Way behind and someone in the Dragon window.

A quick behind the scenes look at how we setup portraits of ourselves peering out of a Dragon window into the stars from Starliner's cockpit window. pic.twitter.com/3Kek11PTFv

— Matthew Dominick (@dominickmatthew) July 23, 2024

He noticed the Sun would set and the Moon would rise 12 to 15 minutes later. He thought the Moon’s light might be just enough to see Dragon without hiding the stars.

To photograph a person inside Dragon, Dominick had to adjust the lighting carefully. Even on its lowest setting, his light was too bright, so he used a washcloth to diffuse it.

A short timelapse made from the individual images taken when finding the right light for the image above. Faint blue light from a moon just starting to crest the horizon in front of the ISS illuminates Dragon. pic.twitter.com/QeTJwYSAb3

— Matthew Dominick (@dominickmatthew) June 29, 2024

“When it’s very dark outside, even a little bit of light from inside can overexpose a person’s face against the starry background,” he explained.

After setting up the lighting, Dominick went to Starliner, where the camera, a Nikon Z9, was set up. He used a one-second exposure, f/1.4 aperture, and 6400 ISO, and the camera was set to take a photo every two seconds. He then went back to Dragon to pose for the photo, holding still for the one-second exposure to avoid blur.

“It took many tries to get it right, but we managed to get portraits of all four crew members from inside Dragon,” Dominick said.

ISS astronauts regularly surprise and amaze us with their images taken from the space station, revealing points of view that few of us get to appreciate firsthand. Some of my favourites are the views of the strong auroras from space.

[via petapixel]

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