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Timelapse video made during ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet\u2019s second mission to the International Space Station, \u201cAlpha\u201d. The camera is setup to take pictures at intervals of two a second, and the pictures are then edited into this video that plays at 25 pictures a second. The camera was setup in the Japanese Kibo module and shows the solar arrays moving as they prepare to track the Sun when the Space Station flies back into sunlight. The new IROSA solar array upgrades can be seen that Thomas and NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough installed over the course of three spacewalks in July 2021.<\/p>\n
Thomas shared this video on social media on the last day of his mission with the caption:<\/p>\n
\u201cOne more night with this magical view. Who could complain? I\u2019ll miss our spaceship!\u201d<\/p>\n
Over 200 experiments are planned during Thomas\u2019 time in space, with 40 European ones and 12 new experiments led by the French space agency CNES.<\/p>\n
Latest updates on the Alpha mission can be found via @esaspaceflight<\/a> on Twitter, with more details on ESA\u2019s exploration blog via thomaspesquet.esa.int<\/a>.<\/p>\n Background information on the Alpha mission is available at www.esa.int\/MissionAlpha<\/a> with a brochure at www.esa.int\/AlphaBrochure<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n