Moon over NASA astronaut's dazzling ISS space selfie
Mark Vande Hei appears to have the whole world in his hands in this week's cool snapshot from the International Space Station.
- Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year" award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
But first, let me take a selfie.
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.
