Returning home
Exceptional photo, isn’t it? Not mine, it was made by NASA photographer Bill Ingalls on March 12, 2015 above the soil of Kazakhstan. As you already suppose from the short introduction of the photographer, that is not an regular parachute, but the one holding the Soyuz capsule during its descent on its way home. Travelers: three astronauts, one American and two Russians: NASA astronaut Commander Barry Wilmore, and Russian Federal Space Agency cosmonauts Alexander Samokutyaev and Eleva Serova. Coming back to Earth from the International Space Station after a 167 days mission in space.
After re-entry in the Earth’s athmosphere the crew members deployed the huge parachute for a smooth descent to Earth. With photographer Bill Ingalls close enough to capture this incredible photo of the capsule above this sea of golden clouds. It looks perfect to me.
Now, a few words about Bill Ingalls: he’s an experienced photographer with more than 27 years experience and a long contract with NASA, since 1989, as a Senior Contract Photographer. Allowing him to join surveillance missions like this one and having the privilege of photographing such scenes. I bet most of the photographers would pay a fortune to have this privilege. While Bill is paid for it! 😉
