Boeing's Starliner capsule is seen docked to the International Space Station in this zoomed-in view of an image captured by Maxar Technologies' WorldView-3 satellite on June 7, 2024. on June 6, delivering NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the orbiting lab on a shakeout cruise known as Crew Flight Test .
A day later, Maxar Technologies' WorldView-3 satellite snapped a striking photo of the ISS and its new arrival, which is prominently featured near the center of the frame. from its vantage point 385 miles above our planet. But the new photo shows that the spacecraft can study objects in orbit as well.
"This type of imagery collection, known as non-Earth imaging , is a breakthrough capability that enables Maxar to support critical space domain awareness missions for government and commercial customers," Maxar wrote in anNon-Earth imaging could become a higher and higher priority for the U.S. government and other entities with a large stake in the final frontier over the coming years.
The number of satellites going to orbit has jumped dramatically recently and will likely continue to grow, largely due to the rise of megaconstellations such as SpaceX'sBreaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!2 astronaut taxis: Why NASA wants both Boeing's Starliner and SpaceX's Dragon
CFT is the first-ever crewed mission for Starliner, which is scheduled to come back to Earth no earlier than June 18. If all goes well on the mission, the capsule will be certified to fly long-duration astronaut missions to and from the ISS for NASA.to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: and joined the team in 2010.