A NASA astronaut has taken a literally out of this world selfie during a spacewalk last weekend outside the International Space Station.

ISS Expedition 42 crewman Barry "Butch" Wilmore, the commander of the space station, took a photograph of himself during the first of three spacewalks on February 21. The background revealed a most stunning blue and cloud swirled ocean. Spacewalk partner and fellow NASA astronaut Terry Virts also appears in the selfie, reflected on Wilmore's visor.

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These excursions will prepare the station for the future arrival and docking of commercial space vehicles carrying crew on Boeing and SpaceX spacecraft.

NASA officials say the spacewalks laid cables along the forward end of the U.S. segment and will bring power and transmit data to two International Docking Adapters that will arrive later this year.

Beginning 2017, the new docking ports will handle the arrival of new U.S. commercial spacecraft. The spacecraft will allow seven crew members to man the ISS compared to the standard six to seven.

Last September, NASA granted SpaceX a US$2.6 billion contract to develop and conduct test flights for the manned Dragon capsule. On the other hand, Boeing received US$4.2 billion to complete its work on its crewed vehicle, the CST-100 capsule.

NASA hopes at least one of the spaceships will be operational by 2017. To date, the U.S. space agency relies on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft to carry its astronauts to the ISS after the Space Shuttle missions ended in 2011.

The next two spacewalks will be performed by Wilmore and Virts on Wednesday, February 25 and Sunday, March 1 around 7:10 A.M. EST on both days.

TagsAstronaut Takes Out of This World Selfie During Spacewalk, NASA, ISS, butch wilmore astronaut, terry virts astronaut, astronaut selfie, spacewalk astronaut selfie NASA ISS