Boeing starliner (left) during orbital flight test 2 as it approaches the International Space Station, as seen in an image taken from London on May 20, 2022. (Image credit: Szabolcs Nagy / Space Station Guys)
Stunned phasers: A photographer on the ground saw a spacecraft 250 miles (400 kilometers) above, about to meet the International Space Station (ISS).
Szabolcs Nagy, a London space station tracker and photographer, captured the Boeing Starliner just 200 meters (650 feet) from the orbiting complex while the unmanned Orbital Flight Test 2 (OFT-2) historic robbery on May 20.
“I was listening to the conversation between Mission Control and the ISS crew while taking pictures with my telescope in the garden,” Nagy, who also created SpaceStationGuys.com (opens in a new tab), told Space.com .
In the photos: Boeing’s Starliner OFT-2 mission in picturesLive updates: Starliner OFT-2 mission
“It seemed like no other ISS imaging session before,” added Nagy, who enhanced his camera’s vision with a 14-inch Dobsonian telescope with manual tracking, along with a 3x Barlow lens for increase the focal length of the system.
This is the International Space Station with the #Boeing #Starliner 200 meters away. This whole experience was surreal, very happy! @Cmdr_Hadfield @Space_Station @BoeingSpace @richard_e_cole @NASASpaceflight #ISS pic.twitter.com/EIPxtoMATHMay 20, 2022
See more
The OFT-2 successfully achieved all the main goals, as Starliner seeks to send astronauts to the space station on future flights. Although the results of the spacecraft’s mission are still being judged on the basis of metrics with NASA officials, indications so far point to a crew going aboard the Starliner later this year.
Nagy described his photo shoot as “a totally surreal experience, really.” At the time, he wasn’t sure if the two vehicles could fit in a single field of view, but everything was bright enough and close enough to capture a few thousand frames of the encounter, he said.
As you can see below, this image was not the only one produced during the mission. And between photo shoots, he was uploading Starliner Mission content to his YouTube channel (opens in a new tab).
Comparison Image👀 @BoeingSpace #Starliner Vs. @SpaceX #CrewDragon. 📷 14 “Dob with 3xBarlow Manual Tracking @zwoasi 174MM with AP 642 IR PASS Filter.
See more
#Boeing #Starliner comparison image. 14 “Dob with manual tracking 3xBarlow @zwoasi 174MM with AP 642 IR PASS filter. @Spacestationguy #SpotTheStation @VirtualAstro #astrophotography #ESA #NASA @BoeingSpace @skyatnightmag @redditSpacePorn #Telescope #ISS @Spact6itter 20.
See more
Geraint Jones, a professor and head of the Planetary Science Group at University College London, photographed the spacecraft and the station during docking procedures from its location in Guildford, Surrey. Jones took his picture (opens in a new tab) with a handheld camera just an hour’s drive southwest of where Nagy was.
Starliner and #ISS pass through the UK at 23:10 BST this evening, without processing. Laptop with Nikon P1000. Guildford Dam, Surrey. About 1 hour from auto-coupling. #Starliner # OFT2 #spacestation #astrophotography pic.twitter.com/JGMmB2vqlr May 20, 2022
See more
As for Nagy, he returned to his camera during the re-entry of Starliner five days later, while the Boeing spacecraft zoomed through the atmosphere on its way to a safe parachute landing at White Sands Space Port in New York. Mexico.
“Watch the full video of the event; it was spectacular,” Nagy said on Twitter (opens in a new tab) on May 25, adding: “While tweeting, Starliner is deploying the heat shield. Really good”.
@Boeing #Starliner and the International Space Station over London. Watch the full video of the event, it was spectacular! While tweeting, Starliner is deploying the heat shield. Very cool 😁 @ Space_Station # ISS Best Quality Video 👉 pic.twitter.com/GqlPwUymWNMay 25, 2022
See more
Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace (opens in a new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in a new tab) and on Facebook (opens in a new tab).