Italian astronaut snaps far-out selfie during six-hour spacewalk

Astronaut Luca Parmitano is upping the ante for the most extreme selfie.

On Jan. 25, the European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut snapped a “space-selfie” while floating in space. The interstellar image shows the camera’s reflection in Parmitano’s helmet, with the infinite black depth of space framing the portrait.

The 43-year-old pilot from Catania, Italy, was out on a spacewalk with NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan. The two spent six hours and 16 minutes in zero gravity to make final repairs on the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, a dark matter and antimatter detector, according to NASA’S Flickr page.

Parmitano is preparing his exit from the International Space Station along with NASA astronauts Christina Koch, 41, and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Skvortsov, 53.

The trio will board the Soyuz MS-13 crew ship on Wednesday night with a return to Earth scheduled for early Thursday, according to the ISS blog. NASA TV will livestream their journey from the ISS to their landing zone in Kazakhstan beginning tonight at 9 p.m.

On Jan. 15, Koch, from Livingston, Mont., had to take one last epic selfie as well.

This return marks the end of a 328-daylong mission for Koch, an electrical engineer who now holds the record for the longest spaceflight by a woman, and comes in second place overall — surpassed by former astronaut Scott Kelly who spent 340 days in space.

Last year, Koch was also part of the first all-woman spacewalk in history, joined by Jessica Meir, 42, who had replaced Anne McClain after they discovered her 300-pound space suit was incorrectly fitted.

NASA Flight Engineers Meir and Andrew Morgan, 44, will remain on ISS alongside Russian cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka. Their departure is planned for April, following a mission to collect over four tons of research gear and crew supplies from a cargo craft.

And, while it may not be the most useful advice for us land-dwellers, gearhead Meir recommends the Nikon D5 with a 28-millimeter lens — in its own little spacesuit, of course.

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