A spectacular backdrop

ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano is shown flying above Earth attached to the International Space Station's Canadarm2 robotic arm. This image was captured during his second spacewalk to service the cosmic ray detecting Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer AMS-02.

Due to the difficult to reach nature of the AMS worksite located on top of the Station’s S3 Truss structure between a pair of solar arrays and radiators, Luca travels to and from the site on the end of the robotic arm maneuvered by NASA astronaut Jessica Meir inside the Station.