Moon over NASA astronaut’s dazzling ISS space selfie – CNET

nasaspaceselfie

But first, let me take a selfie.

NASA

Here’s your new goal for the coming weekend: Try to take a selfie that’s even a fraction as cool as this one.

NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei snapped this impressive space selfie on Tuesday during the first space walk of the year, and it was named the space agency’s Image of the Day for Friday.

Vande Hei and rock ‘n’ rolling crewmate Scott Tingle were outside the International Space Station Tuesday not just to take some cool photos, but to perform maintenance on the station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm during a spacewalk that lasted more than seven hours. 

Vande Hei will take another spacewalk on Monday, this time with Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. (You can watch it live online Monday beginning at 2:30 a.m. PT.)

Space selfies aren’t new — the first one dates back to Buzz Aldrin’s Gemini 12 spacewalk in 1966.(“Best. Selfie. Ever.” Aldrin deservedly bragged on his WhoSay page.) And back in October, astronaut Randy Bresnik compared the process of actually snapping a selfie in space to trying to punch a camera button while wearing oven mitts.