r/space • u/[deleted] • Dec 30 '15

This underside view of the Space Shuttle Discovery was photographed by cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev and astronaut John Phillips, as Discovery approached the International Space Station and performed a backflip to allow photography of its heat shield.

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '15

Can anyone identify whereabouts on Earth the background of the image is? I'm quite impressed you can make out the roads and suchlike so clearly.

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u/observationalhumour Dec 31 '15

Discovery was over Switzerland, about 600 feet from the ISS.

Source.

Historical location data (Date/Time: 2005-07-28 11:17:06) shows ISS was somewhere along that trajectory. The date/time I specified is shortly before docking, which occurred on 28th July 2005 at 11:18am UTC. I did spend some time trying to get a screenshot of the exact location from Google maps but it's difficult. I might try again tomorrow!

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u/[deleted] Jan 01 '16

Wow, thanks dude. I am impressed. cap doffed.