Hasta La Ideas

Here’s something you probably never considered: The only photos you’ve ever seen inside the International Space Station are snapshots taken by astronauts, often using a flash. This means every image of it you’ve ever seen has been poorly-lit and amateurish.

It’s impossible to take long-exposure shots in there since “you can’t use a tripod in space because it just floats away, and the station itself is going 17,500 miles an hour,” photographer Roland Miller explained to Colossal. “Just because of the size and the speed, there’s a harmonic vibration to it” that would result in blurry shots.

To solve this, Miller teamed up with astronaut, engineer, photographer and ISS resident Paolo Nespoli.

View of ISS Nadir from Departing Soyuz TMA-20 Spacecraft, Complete ISS stack including Space Shuttle Endeavour and Automated Transfer Vehicle Kepler, Low Earth Orbit, Space, Photograph by Paolo Nespoli

Miller used Google Street View‘s images of the ISS to poke around inside and figure out what angles he wanted to shoot, then Nespoli rigged up an anti-vibration bipod and took shots under Miller’s art direction.

The results of their collaboration is INTERIOR SPACE: A Visual Exploration of the International Space Station, a 200-page 12×10 book that’s up on Kickstarter.

Interior Space: A Visual Exploration of the International Space Station

Here are some examples of the images the duo produced:

Port Hatch with Mission Stickers and Memorabilia European Laboratory – Columbus, International Space Station, Low Earth Orbit, Space, Photograph by Paolo Nespoli and Roland Miller

Starboard View, European Laboratory – Columbus, International Space Station, Low Earth Orbit, Space, Photograph by Paolo Nespoli and Roland Miller

Cupola with Clouds and Ocean, International Space Station, Low Earth Orbit, Space, Photograph by Paolo Nespoli and Roland Miller

View from Starboard into Node 2 and Japanese Experiment Module, European Laboratory – Columbus, International Space Station, Low Earth Orbit, Space, Photograph by Paolo Nespoli and Roland Miller

View of Port Hatch into Node 3, Node 1 – Unity, International Space Station, Low Earth Orbit, Space, Photograph by Paolo Nespoli and Roland Miller

The book has already been successfully funded, but there’s still 11 days left to pledge if you want a copy. INTERIOR SPACE is going for $55 and should ship by October of this year.