WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

A nadir view of the space shuttle Atlantis and its payload was provided by one of a series of images showing various parts of the shuttle in Earth orbit. Seen at the rear of the cargo bay is the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module, packed with supplies and spare parts for the International Space Station. The series was photographed by one of three crewmembers -- half the station crew -- who were equipped with still cameras on the orbiting outpost as the shuttle "posed" for photos and visual surveys and performed a back-flip for the rendezvous pitch maneuver (RPM). A 400 millimeter lens was used to capture this particular series of images.