Soyuz Progress Launch Timelapse Seen from Space on route to the ISS

Soyuz Progress Launch Timelapse Seen from Space on route to the ISS. Credits: ESA/NASA

German astronaut Alexander Gerst shows us the more than 21,000 shots he captured from the International Space Station (ISS) have already served to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the orbital station in a full-length video that spans two orbits of Earth. It has also allowed the publication of a bluff video that seems almost unreal.

The images were taken from the European-built Cupola module with a camera set to take pictures at regular intervals. The pictures are then played quickly after each other at 8 to 16 times normal speed. The video shows around 15 minutes of the launch at normal speed.

From the observation dome of the dome of the International Space Station, which offers a panoramic view to the crew members. Alexander Gerst took these photographs of this release and they were united in a spectacular timelapse.

A refueling mission of the ISS took off from the Baikonur launch pad in Kazakhstan. A Russian Soyuz rocket took a Progress cargo ship that docked at the ISS two days later. The Russian Progress MS-10 cargo spacecraft launched on 16 November 2018 at 18:14 GMT from Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, with 2564 kg of cargo and supplies.

Flying at 28 800 km/h, 400 km high, the International Space Station requires regular supplies from Earth such as this Progress launch. Spacecraft are launched after the Space Station flies overhead so they catch up with the orbital outpost to dock, in this case two days later on 18 November 2018.

The Progress spacecraft delivered food, fuel and supplies, including about 750 kg of propellant, 75 kg of oxygen and air and 440 l of water.

Some notable moments in this video are:

00:07 Soyuz-FG rocket booster separation.

00:19 Core stage separation.

00:34:05 Core stage starts burning in the atmosphere as it returns to Earth after having spent all its fuel.

00:34:19 Progress spacecraft separates from rocket and enters orbit to catch up with the International Space Station.

Credits: ESA/NASA