14 DAY TRIAL // On Christmas Eve, two NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station were conducting a spacewalk outside the space lab, trying to fix an issue that plagued the orbital installation's cooling system.
During the complex maneuvers, astronaut Mike Hopkins took the time to snap a photo of himself backdropped by our planet, reminding us yet again why space is so beautiful.
The image was taken as the ISS was flying about 420 kilometers (262 miles) above the surface of the planet. On December 24, Hopkins and colleague Rick Mastracchio went on an extravehicular activity to replace a failed ammonia pump in the station's cooling system.
Mastracchio can be seen reflected in Hopkins' visors. This dynamic duo also conducted a spacewalk last Saturday, on December 21, when they removed the failed pump for storage. During Tuesday's EVA, they grabbed a new pump from its storage spot on the outer hull of the station, and attached it in its correct spot.
Interestingly, NASA originally scheduled three spacewalks to deal with the cooling system issue. Hopkins and Mastracchio moved so quickly that they were able to finish the job in just two sessions. Granted, the second one took well over 7 hours to complete.