NASA astronaut and current space station inhabitant Don Pettit seems to have the luck of the stars. During SpaceX’s sixth test flight of its massive Starship rocket from Boca Chica, Texas, on Tuesday, the International Space Station (ISS) just happened to be passing directly above — some 250 miles above, to be precise — giving keen photographer Pettit the perfect opportunity to capture the Starship’s launch.
Pettit shared a photo of the event on his X account on Thursday, along with the comment, “We happened to be overhead!”
Starship launch from @ISS. We happened to be overhead! pic.twitter.com/SLRlLoRriv
— Don Pettit (@astro_Pettit) November 21, 2024
Pettit’s image shows the trail left by the Super Heavy’s 33 Raptor engines as it powers the Starship spacecraft to orbit, casting a shadow over the waters of the Gulf of Mexico as it goes.
The ISS orbits Earth at a speed of about 17,500 mph (28,000 kph) and makes around 16 orbits of the planet in 24 hours, so the crew were incredibly lucky to be so close to the action on Tuesday.
Pettit and his fellow ISS crew members were also fortunate enough to get a view of SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn Crew Dragon capsule as it hurtled back to Earth with four people aboard at the end of a historic mission in September. Pettit, who has earned a stellar reputation for his brilliant photographic work across multiple orbital missions, captured an astonishing shot showing a streak of light created by the capsule as it returned home.
He also recently shared a surreal image showing Earth as you’ve never seen it before, and also posted images that look more like works of art than real locations on Earth.
With Pettit only a couple of months into his six-month ISS mission, we can look forward to a lot more amazing photography from the American astronaut.