Tengrinews.kz – A photo of a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur has been named among NASA’s best space photographs of the year. The image received a special agency award. Tengrinews.kz explains how the photo was taken and what made the mission memorable.
What can be seen in the photo
NASA published on Instagram a photo of the Soyuz rocket taken in April 2025 at Baikonur. The photographer used a fisheye lens, making the launch pad and the rocket look almost like a scene from science fiction.
“Three days later, the Soyuz sent NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and two cosmonauts into low Earth orbit for an eight-month mission aboard the ISS,” the post said.
According to NASA, the photo received the agency’s special “Photographer of the Year 2025” award.
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What is known about the mission
According to NASA, the Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on April 8, 2025. The crew included Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky, as well as NASA astronaut Jonny Kim.
They spent about eight months aboard the ISS and safely returned to Earth in December. Over 245 days in space, the crew completed 3,920 orbits around Earth, covering nearly 167 million kilometers.
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What the crew did on the ISS
According to NASA, astronaut Jonny Kim worked on future medical technologies during his eight-month mission. During the mission, he tested vascular bioprinting, nanomaterials for medicine and tissue regeneration technologies. Kim also took part in tests of space robotic systems that could be used in future missions to the Moon and other planets.
At the same time, the Russian cosmonauts conducted experiments in outer space. One of them involved growing crystals in microgravity. According to media reports, such materials could be useful for creating next-generation solar panels and electronics.
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