On the International Space Station, it can be hard to keep track of time. The Sun rises and sets 16 times every 24 hours, and the clocks are permanently set to Greenwich Mean Time. But, no matter how you measure it, November 2, 2020, was a very important milestone for the ISS – it marks 20 years of continuous human habitation in space.
In Interior Space, a new book released to mark the occasion, Chicago-based photographer Roland Miller and Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli – who spent 313 days in space – have worked together to photograph the interior of the space station in detail for the first time.
It’s intended as an historical artefact as much as anything – as the ISS is due to be abandoned in 2024, and destroyed by 2028. “Interior Space will remain as a record when the ISS – one of the most technologically advanced and important scientific tools of the 21st century – no longer exists,” writes Miller.
On Earth, Miller also took photos of elements of the ISS before they went into orbit at the Space Station Processing Facility in Florida. This is part of the Z1 truss, one of the first elements of the ISS to be launched into orbit in October 2000.
The ISS is modular, which means that segments can easily be added and removed as needed. It’s grown in size over the years, and now has roughly the same internal volume as a six-bedroom house. This picture shows an on-Earth test of the mating systems for Node 1 – also known as Unity – which connects the Russian and American segments of the station, and is where the crew eat meals together.
In space, Nespoli had to come up with creative solutions to take sharp photos. He used articulated arms attached to handrails to stabilise the camera in low gravity, and worked with Miller to find cameras which hadn’t been too badly affected by cosmic radiation, which damages the light receptors and means that cameras on the ISS have to be replaced every year.
Amit Katwala is WIRED's culture editor. He tweets from @amitkatwala
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
