ISS astronauts walked above Turkmenistan
54th expedition of the International Space Station has made recently regular spacewalk. This time, dressed in massive suits, astronaut Mark Vande Hei of NASA and Norishige Kanai of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, left the ISS for open space.
Cosmonauts had to perform a number of technical tasks. In particular, they removed one of outdated manipulators of the mobile servicing system "Canadarm2" and brought it inside the space station for the subsequent delivery to the Earth. The robotic system is used for tackling and moving materials and equipment at the station.
The flight engineers Hei and Kanai coped with their mission much faster than planned deadlines and decided to make a mini-trip in the remaining time.
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It would seem, nothing can surprise habitués of the star vacuum, after all it is a routine working environment. However, the astronauts admitted later, the Earth vistas are truly amazing.
When leaving the orbital complex, they managed to catch a moment of sun-rising over Peru. A half-hour later they were flying over London.
And fifteen minutes was enough to move from the capital of Great Britain to outer space over Turkmenistan. It is a real wonder. The quarter of an hour of spacewalk fits earth 5,000 kilometers and 6 hours of air travel.
An almost six-hour lasting space journey ended at an altitude of 404 kilometers above the African continent.
Maybe when aerospace manufacturers, such as SpaceX, would realize all their bold infrastructure ideas, the space passenger transportations from the mega-expensive entertainment will turn into public service. And in a few minutes anyone will be able to get anywhere in the world, enjoying the fascinating beauty of interplanetary expanse.
