photo courtesy of NASA

Rainbow Aurora
| published April 17, 2015 |

By Keith H. Roberts Thursday Review contributor

In this striking deep focus image, taken from a window aboard the International Space Station on the morning of April 11, astronauts and cosmonauts view a stunning “double rainbow aurora” as the space station passes from dark to light. Parts of the space station can be seen along the left side and upper center of the photograph.

The crew members of Expedition 43 are working on a variety of medical and scientific experiments aboard the ISS, and two crew members—American Scott Kelly and Russian Mikhail Kornienko—are in the early days and weeks of their eventual one-year stint in high orbit around the Earth. Kelly and Kornienko will test the limits of physical and mental endurance during that year, and their deployment in zero gravity will also provide scientists and doctors back on Earth one of the most detailed and comprehensive looks at the effects of long duration weightlessness on the human body.

The medical and scientific data will be used to prepare for extremely long voyages to Mars and beyond—deep space missions which will begin, of all goes well, within the next 10 to 12 years.

Thursday Review will prepare regular articles on the space station’s crew members and the progress of Expedition 43 over the next weeks and months.

Related Thursday Review articles:

Expedition 43: One Year in Space; Thursday Review staff; Thursday Review; March 29, 2015.

The View From Above; Thursday Review staff; Thursday Review; March 3, 2015.