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A NASA astronaut captured a chilling photo of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft alongside the International Space Station (ISS). Check out the stunning image!

The Crew Dragon spacecraft appears like a ghostly figure in the photograph.
A NASA astronaut captured a chilling photo of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft alongside the International Space Station (ISS). Check out the stunning image!

The Crew Dragon spacecraft from SpaceX successfully delivered two astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of the Crew-9 mission. NASA astronaut Don Pettit captured a stunning image of the spacecraft, which resembles a cosmic ghost, shortly after it docked with the ISS, according to Space.

Astronaut Don Pettit took the photo of the Crew Dragon on September 29, when it docked with the ISS, but the image was only shared recently on social media platform X. The black-and-white photograph showcases the underside of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, highlighting the windows equipped with filters to reduce the intense sunlight.

Pettit captured the image using a Nikon Z9 camera with a quarter-second exposure. The photograph was processed with specialized software to enhance contrast, brightness, and to give it a black-and-white finish.

Crew Dragon

At 69 years old, astronaut Don Pettit is embarking on his fourth journey into space, having arrived at the ISS on September 12 aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft alongside two Russian astronauts. Throughout his first three missions, NASA astronaut Pettit has spent a total of 370 days in space.

Pettit began actively pursuing photography in orbit during his third flight from 2011 to 2012 and continues to hone his skills. According to the astronaut, there are several new lenses on the ISS that are optimized for night photography.

Regarding the Crew-9 mission, only two astronauts (one American and one Russian) arrived at the ISS at the end of September, instead of the planned four. NASA made this decision to ensure there were available seats on the Crew Dragon for astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams, who are stranded in orbit due to a malfunction with their vehicle—the Boeing Starliner. These NASA astronauts were originally scheduled to spend 10 days at the ISS in June of this year but will now return home only in February 2025.