With no fireworks allowed on the area station, NASA astronauts improvised with digital camera flashes to rejoice Independence Day.Worldwide Area Station (ISS) astronaut Matthew Dominick performed round with “mild portray” — a protracted publicity in a darkish room that illuminates a topic with a lightweight supply — throughout Expedition 71’s break day to rejoice the Fourth of July.”No fireworks on ISS so we used digital camera flashes as an alternative. Experimented with ‘mild portray’ at this time,” Dominick wrote on X, previously Twitter.Dominick has already been working towards picture time-lapses on the orbiting complicated in between his common duties, capturing gorgeous photos of Earth and the area station in movement. However for the U.S. vacation, the NASA astronaut mounted the Stars and Stripes to the again of the Japanese Kibo module and performed round with inside exposures. Then he posted the outcomes on social media.Two of the images present Dominick skittering throughout Kibo in several methods — one with him zooming via the shot like a superhero, and one other one catching him in additional of an area tumble. The grin on his face is infectious.Associated: NASA astronauts ship Fourth of July message to Earth from ISS (video)NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick enjoying with digital camera settings throughout a photoshoot from the Worldwide Area Station posted July 4, 2024. (Picture credit score: Matthew Dominick/NASA/X)Dominick described how the time-lapses have been staged: “Turned off the lights. Manually actuated our personal flashes. Ambient mild solely from computer systems and experiment LEDs.” He additionally added some pictures stats, for aspiring area photographers: 15-second exposures, f22, 24mm, ISO 500.Breaking area information, the most recent updates on rocket launches, skywatching occasions and extra!For one photograph, he obtained a lot of the Expedition 71 long-duration crew and the 2 Boeing Starliner astronauts (in area for a shorter mission) to hitch him in Kibo. Every astronaut used their very own mild supply to light up themselves within the semi-darkness of the analysis facility.The group was instructed to “hearth your individual flash at will, contained in the 15 second publicity after all,” Dominick defined in a reply about how they staged it.A part of the Expedition 71 crew, and two Boeing Starliner astronauts on a shorter-term mission, collect within the Worldwide Area Station in a photograph transmitted on July 4, 2024 throughout Independence Day. From left to proper, roughly: Expedition 71 member Tracy Dyson (upside-down, in white shirt); Boeing Starliner Crew Flight Take a look at or CFT commander Butch Wilmore (upside-down, carrying shirt with stars); Expedition 71’s Matthew Dominick (backside, in blue shirt); Expedition 71’s Mike Barratt (heart); a Russian cosmonaut (in opposition to the American flag) who’s tough to view within the image, however possible Expedition 71’s Oleg Kononenko; and Boeing Starliner CFT pilot Suni Williams (the wrong way up, carrying a shirt with writing on it). (Picture credit score: Matthew Dominick/NASA/X)Whereas Dominick is utilizing his spare time to play with images in enjoyable, all astronauts are educated in orbital pictures to help with important Earth observations throughout their time in area.”Astronauts typically take stunning photos of the aurora borealis, metropolis lights at evening, and the horizon, however they will additionally {photograph} pure hazards comparable to volcanic eruptions and wildfires from area,” NASA officers wrote in 2021. (Extra lately, for instance, Expedition 71 has been capturing photos of Hurricane Beryl from area.)”In truth, astronaut pictures can play an important function in serving to scientists and determination makers monitor hazards in close to real-time,” the NASA posting added. “Whereas most conventional satellites solely take images trying straight down on the Earth, astronauts can seize photographs from quite a lot of views.”