WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

A Soyuz spacecraft, backdropped by Earth’s horizon and the blackness of space, is photographed prior to departure from the International Space Station (ISS), carrying the Soyuz taxi crew back to Earth, ending their eight-day stay on the station. The crewmembers are Commander Victor Afanasyev, Flight Engineer Konstantin Kozeev and French Flight Engineer Claudie Haignere. Afanasyev and Kozeev represent Rosaviakosmos, and Haignere represents ESA, carrying out a flight program for CNES, the French Space Agency, under a commercial contract with the Russian Aviation and Space Agency. This image was taken with a digital still camera