After photographing his Master Class on gilding (FWW, issue 204), Peter Gedrys asked if I would take a photo of him and his wife while I had the camera and lighting gear. Imagine my surprise when Peter sent me a photograph showing the photo I’d taken apparently floating in outer space. I initially thought this was yet another Photoshopped image, but it turns out that the photo really did hitch a ride to the International Space Station (ISS). Peter’s friend Captain Stephen Bowen was a member of the shuttle Endeavour’s crew that visited the ISS last year. Apparently each astronaut is allowed to take a certain weight of personal items with them and Bowen asked Peter if he had a photo he’d like taken into space. The photo here is taken inside the Japanese-build pod for the ISS and shows Earth in the background. The blue rim is the earth’s atmosphere.

I guess you could say the photo I took is the high point of my photographic career, and probably any other Fine Woodworking editor past or present. Any advance on 218 miles above earth?