--- ---  # See 2 Dramatic Views of Space Travel  by [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/)  ## Jeffrey Kluger Editor at Large Jun 19, 2015 3:30 PM UTC  Scott Kelly—NASA  by [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/)  ## Jeffrey Kluger Editor at Large Jun 19, 2015 3:30 PM UTC A trip to the International Space Station starts and ends with fire, but in between, there is only a sweet, shimmery drift. That’s a fact of your work life if you’re one of the tiny handful of people who fly those missions, but for the rest of us, it’s nice to have a little photographic evidence now and again. For that reason, this is a good week to offer a hat tip to astronaut Scott Kelly who can be found 251 mi. (404 km) above the Earth, where he’ll be until his year in space mission ends next March; and to NASA photographer Bill Ingalls, who can be found, well, pretty much anywhere on the planet his history-capturing services are needed. As the pictures above and below prove, both men have been doing their jobs exceptionally well. Kelly’s picture was part of his “Good night from the International Space Station” series, a regular image he posts on his Twitter, Facebook and Instagram feeds before bunking down for the night—which easily qualifies him as having a much, much more interesting Twitter, Instagram and Facebook feed than you do. [**MORE: See The Trailer for TIME’s Unprecedented New Series: A Year In Space**](http://time.com/space-nasa-scott-kelly-mission/) In the foreground of the image is one of the station’s many projecting limbs of hardware. In the background is the rainbow-hued onion skin of Earth’s atmosphere and the spine of the Milky Way, ranging in all directions.  The Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft lands with Expedition 43 commander Terry Virts of NASA, cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), and Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti from European Space Agency (ESA) near Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on June 11, 2015. Bill Ingalls—NASA Ingalls’ picture was taken on June 11, from the open hatch of helicopter 28, as it hovered over the Kazakhstan steppes when the Soyuz spacecraft carrying NASA astronaut Terri Virts, Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov and Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti returned to Earth. As a Soyuz makes its final approach, it is moving at a parachute-controlled 24 ft. per sec (8.5 m/sec), which is a whole lot slower than the speed it was traveling during its blistering plunge through the atmosphere, but still way too fast for a safe landing. So one second before impact, two small clusters of engines ignite, braking the spacecraft to just 5 ft. per sec (1.5 m/sec). That’s a speed that you’ll easily survive but you won’t remotely enjoy, as any crewmember who has ever experienced the teeth-rattling impact of hitting the Kazakh deck will tell you. But never mind. Virts, Shkaplerov and Cristoforetti returned home safely, Kelly logged another busy day aboard the station, and the rest of us rode along in our own small way, thanks to the people who capture the images of the otherworldly places humanity goes. ### See Scott Kelly's First 30 Days in Space  Scott Kelly has posted a photo almost every day since arriving at the ISS. Here, see a selection from his first 30 days in space. (Via Twitter on April 23, 2015) Scott Kelly—NASA  "Was asked what I write down on this small kneeboard. Mostly hardware serial numbers and #ISS locations. #YearInSpace" - via Twitter on April 28, 2015 Scott Kelly—NASA  "I wonder what they do here. #NorthAfrica #YearInSpace" - via Twitter April 27, 2015 Scott Kelly—NASA  "Looks serene from @Space\_Station, but my thoughts are still with the people affected by the #NepalEarthquake." - via Twitter on April 26, 2015 Scott Kelly—NASA  "#Movie night in micro #Gravity aboard #ISS on our new HD projector which we use for conferences, tech software, etc.." - via Twitter on April 25, 2015 Scott Kelly—NASA  "My #bedroom aboard #ISS. All the comforts of #home. Well, most of them. #YearInSpace" - via Twitter on April 24, 2015 Scott Kelly—NASA  "#EarthObservations Window on the world. Studying our planet from the cupola on @space\_station #NoPlaceLikeHome" - via Twitter on April 22, 2015 Scott Kelly—NASA  "Blown away by a dust swept #RedSea. Good morning from the @space\_station! #YearInSpace." - via Twitter on April 21, 2015 Scott Kelly—NASA  "#Calcutta area shimmers in the sunlight. #YearInSpace" - via Twitter on April 20, 2015 Scott Kelly—NASA  "Africa. I wonder what these desert sands look like up close?#YearInSpace" - via Twitter on April 19, 2015 Scott Kelly—NASA  "Working on #ISS research today & how micro gravity impacts aging and muscles of the C Elegan roundworm. #YearInSpace" - via Twitter on April 18, 2015 NASA  "Great job @AstroSamantha and @AstroTerry capturing #SpaceX Dragon this morning! #YearInSpace" - via Twitter on April 17, 2015 Scott Kelly—NASA  "The varied colors of #Madagascar. #YearInSpace" - via Twitter on April 16, 2015 Scott Kelly—NASA  "Sometimes the #world seems to shimmer. #YearInSpace" - via Twitter on April 15, 2015 Scott Kelly—NASA  "Congrats @SpaceX and @NASA team on a successful launch! Watched with my crewmates aboard #ISS. #YearInSpace" - via Twitter on April 14, 2015 Scott Kelly—NASA  "This #butterfly caught my eye while flying high above the #gulfofmexico. #YearInSpace" - via Twitter on April 13, 2015 Scott Kelly—NASA  "Not sure what is going on on this beach in #Mexico but it's a striking image. #YearInSpace" - via Twitter on April 12, 2015 Scott Kelly—NASA  "#Earth is breathtaking. #YearInSpace" - via Twitter on April 11, 2015 Scott Kelly—NASA  "Hopefully this is pollen or algae and not something man made. #YearInSpace" - via Twitter on April 10, 2015 Scott Kelly—NASA  "Madagascar drains its red mud into the Indian Ocean. #YearInSpace" - via Twitter on April 9, 2015 Scott Kelly—NASA  "Looks messy, but it's functional. Our #food table on the @space station. What's for breakfast? #YearInSpace" - via Twitter on April 8, 2015 Scott Kelly—NASA  "#Patagonia never disappoints. #YearInSpace" - via Twitter on April 7, 2015 Scott Kelly—NASA  "#Australia. You are very beautiful. Thanks for being there to brighten our day. #YearInSpace" - via Twitter on April 6, 2015 Scott Kelly—NASA  "Good morning Southern #Florida from the #ISS. #YearInSpace" - via Twitter on April 5, 2015 Scott Kelly—NASA  "Enjoying Saturday evening dinner with @AstroTerry on the #ISS" - via Twitter on April 4, 2015 NASA  "#FlashbackFriday Got my 1st EMT training at 16\. Emergency medical training on #ISS keeps me 35 years proficient." - via Twitter on April 3, 2015 Scott Kelly—NASA  ".@FLOTUS Thank you. Made it! Moving into crew quarters on @space\_station to begin my #yearinspace." - via Twitter on March 30, 2015 Scott Kelly—NASA Space Travel: See 2 Dramatic Views ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3928054/space-pictures-kelly-ingalls/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3928054/space-pictures-kelly-ingalls/"},"headline":"See 2 Dramatic Views of Space Travel","datePublished":"2015-06-19T15:30:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:02:57.093Z","description":"A pair of pictures tell a powerful tale","url":"https://time.com/3928054/space-pictures-kelly-ingalls/","keywords":["A Year In Space","NASA","Kazakhstan","international space station","scott kelly"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte5878f9362d7d71d/6988555c55a859d129a8c95b/international-space-station-scott-kelly.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jeffrey Kluger","jobTitle":"Editor at Large","url":"https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte5878f9362d7d71d/6988555c55a859d129a8c95b/international-space-station-scott-kelly.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"International Space Station Scott Kelly","caption":"International Space Station Scott Kelly","creditText":"Scott Kelly—NASA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/a-year-in-space/","name":"A Year In Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3928054/space-pictures-kelly-ingalls/","name":"See 2 Dramatic Views of Space Travel"}}]}] ```