A Self-portrait

Photograph by NASA

 

International Space Station astronaut, Aki Hoshide (Japan), recorded this striking image while helping to augment the capabilities of the Earth-orbiting International Space Station (ISS). Visible in this outworldly assemblage is the Sun, the Earth, two portions of a robotic arm, an astronaut’s spacesuit, the deep darkness of space, and the unusual camera taking the picture.

The Expedition 32 mission ended on September 17, 2012 when an attached capsule undocked with the ISS and returned some of the crew to Earth. Earlier in the mission, on August 30, 2012, Hoshide became the third Japanese astronaut to walk in space. He was born in 1968 in Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan, but grew up in New Jersey.