World's best view: Astronaut takes stunning self-portrait with Earth reflected in his visor



This is a stunning self-portrait that would make Vincent Van Gogh proud. Nasa astronaut Garrett Reisman took the impressive shot of his helmet visor, which reflected his stunning view of the International Space Station and entire globe behind.



The 42-year-old's protective gloves, emblazoned with the logo of baseball's New York Yankees, are clearly visible holding the space camera in the foreground.



Nasa astronaut Garrett Reisman, Atlantis mission specialist, takes a self portrait into his helmet visor during the first of three spacewalks

Hanging around: Nasa astronaut Garrett Reisman during the first seven hour spacewalk

The former Nasa engineer took the snap on the first space walk of the final Atlantis shuttle mission. During the spacewalk, he and Stephen Bowen attached a new Russian chamber onto the orbiter.

Mr Reisman used a 58ft robotic arm to drive the 20ft long room into place. He drove it with such precision that the first capture sensor didn't even go off, despite having been stranded for half an hour after a short power outage on the station.



'He went right down the middle and got a hole in one,' Mission Control said. Mr Reisman was assisted by the British born meteorologist Piers Sellers, who called out all the milestones.

The Leeds University graduate chose the crew's wake up song this morning - the appropriate 'Start Me Up' by the Rolling Stones.

The six space station residents - especially the three Russians - were thrilled with the addition. Commander Oleg Kotov thanked Nasa for delivering the compartment, named Rassvet, or Dawn in Russian.

Hard at work: Crewmembers snapped photos and used a laser range-finding device on the Space Shuttle Atlantis at the weekend as they prepared to dock

Docked: The Atlantis mission has doubled the space crew to twelve members.

Mr Kotov's enthusiasm was diminished later in the day when he photographed the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

'That's not good,' Kotov told reporters. 'I really feel not good about that.'



He added that the volcanic ash above Europe was also visible.



'Many ecological problems we can observe and monitor from this space station, for example, fires and some flooding, some poisoning of Earth, nature. It's very useful from this perspective,' he said.



The addition - which provides an extra docking port - now puts the space station at 98 per cent complete in terms of habitable volume and 93 per cent complete in terms of structure. Its mass exceeds 816,000 pounds.

Superior juggling skills! Japan's astronaut Soichi Noguchi is thrilled by the delivery of fresh tomatoes. He has been in space since December 2009

Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov and NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson with fresh produce. The sign behind them indicates the speed limit of the station is 17,500MPH

Nasa's share of the construction work is almost over. Only two shuttle missions remain; they're currently scheduled for fall. This is the last planned flight for Atlantis after 32 flights over 25 years.



President Barack Obama wants Nasa out of the shuttle business as soon as possible so it can focus on trips to asteroids and Mars. American astronauts will hitch rides to the space station on Russian rockets until U.S. companies develop their own launch vehicle.



Today two of the crew will venture out on another spacewalk to replace three space station batteries. Another three batteries will be replaced on Friday. The astronauts also will try to untangle a cable on the shuttle's inspection boom that's prevented a proper safety survey of Atlantis.