NASA spots spectacular ISS transit across the full moon – CNET

Plenty of people were out in the dark photographing the rare super blue blood moon, but NASA senior photographer Bill Ingalls captured an instant classic with a look at the International Space Station crossing in front of the full moon on Tuesday night Eastern.

It takes a lot of skill and a bit of luck to get an image like this. The ISS travels at around 5 miles (8 kilometers) per second, so the window for a transit shot is short. Ingalls dialed in the focus perfectly to highlight both the craters and landscape of the moon with the space station in front.

Ingalls snapped the photo from the vantage point of Alexandria, Virginia. 

We’ve witnessed other ISS moon transits before, including this beauty, also from Ingalls. This latest wonder is particularly notable due to the zoomed-in level of detail. You can make out some of the individual components of the space station, including its large solar arrays.

You can also check out another Ingalls shot showing the full expanse of the moon and the ISS looking like a tiny speck in front. 

Let’s remember the flying orbital laboratory currently has six human beings on board, which should just add to the sense of magic you get from viewing these NASA images.