From experiments to cultivate in zero gravity to the most recent spacewalk: to celebrate the end of 2022, the 22nd year of activity aboard the International Space Station, NASA publishes a selection of photos that retrace some of the highlights of the last 12 months.
Among the shots also some with the Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti engaged in a 6-month mission during which she also held the role of commander for a short time.
ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti inside the Dragon cargo (source: NASA)
These are shots chosen by NASA to retrace the year that is drawing to a close, a mix of photographs starting from some of the experiments that the astronauts on board the ISS engage in every day, such as the American Bob Hines immortalized 'playing' with a helmet to virtual reality while carrying out tests of the Grasp experiment aimed at measuring how gravity influences our ability to pick up objects with our hands, or the Japanese Koichi Wakata dealing with an experiment on the effects of microgravity on bone tissue.
NASA astronaut Bob Hines engaged in the Grasp experiment (source: NASA)
Among the shots also two in which AstroSamantha, an astronaut of the European Space Agency (ESA) appears, engaged in arranging some materials on a Dragon cargo capsule to send back to earth and in an operational meeting within the Destiny module with 5 other colleagues.
Among the 20 photos also one showing the release into space of 3 small cubesats and one of the recent 'walk', an extra vehicular activity, in which one of the new iRosa flexible solar panels was installed, necessary to increase availability. of electricity of the ISS.
