Photographer captures ISS and astronauts from Earth

Astrophotographers often manage to get amazing pictures of distant galaxies, planets and moons from Earth. But last week, Dr. Sebastian Voltmer from Germany captured something completely different and just as incredible. He photographed the International Space Station (ISS) as astronauts Matthias Maurer and Raja Chari went into outer space.

This may be the first ground-based image showing two astronauts leaving the station at the same time for maintenance.

The photo was taken on March 23 in St. Wendel in Germany with a telescope in the backyard of the Voltmer. The approximate distance to the ISS was about 417 kilometers.

The spacewalk was the first for Maurer of the European Space Agency. Together with NASA's Chari, they worked on a number of tasks, including replacing the outer camera and installing a new power cable for the Columbus module. In total, they spent 6 hours and 54 minutes outside the station.

A few days before this event, Sebastian Voltmer published a video demonstrating the preparatory work and "aiming" in the ISS.