Meteorites, spacecraft and ISS station flying in the sky together

Meteorites, spacecraft and ISS station flying in the sky together

Ax-1 – the first civilian crew to visit the International Space Station (ISS) – landed safely on Earth aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft on April 26. During this journey, a camera used to track meteorites captured the moment the spacecraft, ISS station and a bright fireball appeared at the same time.

“An astonishing sight: a meteor that plunges, burns up in Earth’s atmosphere, passes by the crew of four in SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft as it leaves the International Space Station (ISS) to return home,” wrote the European Space Agency (ESA) when posting a video on Twitter on April 29.

In the video, the meteorite is very recognizable. It is an object that moves like a streak of light rapidly descending. The ISS is the brightest object in motion, located in the upper right corner of the meteorite. Meanwhile, the Crew Dragon is the fainter dot above the light trail.

This special event camera is part of the AllSky7 meteor network, a project to track and record meteors with a system of sky cameras. The meteorite on April 26 did not pose a danger to the spacecraft and the ISS. ESA said it flew hundreds of kilometers away from the spacecraft.

According to the original plan, the Ax-1 mission would take place in 10 days, but bad weather made the mission take up to 17 days, including 15 days on the ISS station. The Ax-1 was the first mission with an all-resident crew and no members from a government agency. This is also the first time the residents have flown to the ISS by a US-made spacecraft.

The three tiny points of light in the video represent human space travel and Earth’s connection to the vast universe. Two of them are the results of human ingenuity and effort. The remaining bright spot is an object that flies through the solar system, then ends up as a beautiful streak of light in the Earth’s atmosphere.

Thu Thao (According to Cnet)