I’m normally a fairly harsh critic of manned space exploration - I think it’s largely pointless, expensive, dangerous, and accomplishes no scientific goal that robotic exploration can’t do better, faster and cheaper. But I’ll be damned if this photograph isn’t one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen: APOD: 2010 November 15 - Home from Above
It’s as if NASA invested billions upon billions of dollars in creating the perfect cover for one of David Weber’s pulp “Honor Harrington” Horatio-Hornblower-In-Space novels.
It looks as if she’s leaning on the window, or resting on it. But she can’t be doing either in the sense we’re familiar with it, since she has to be in free fall orbit. Unless she’s bracing herself against it with her legs. Or she’s Velcro’d down.
Hmmm, it appears to be a bag and in it there’s latex gloves, a black wig, a BB pistol and ammunition, pepper spray, a hooded tan trench coat, a 2-pound drilling hammer, black gloves, rubber tubing, plastic garbage bags, about US$585 in cash, a computer, an 8-inch Gerber folding knife and several other items.
It looks to me like she’s bracing herself against the window with her left arm and possibly legs. It also seems like the flesh on her face is “floating” a bit - we’re used to seeing people with gravity pulling on their faces, and this looks different to me - akin to a pic taken of someone hanging upside down.
