Photo shows space station traveling across sun's face

WASHINGTON, Sept. 8 (UPI) -- The International Space Station was photographed as it orbited across the face of the sun on Sunday.

Images of the space station's path were combined to create a composite photo and released on Tuesday by NASA. According the U.S. space agency, the photos were captured from Virginia's Shenandoah National Park.

ISS travels around the Earth at an orbital speed of 17,100 miles per hour and an altitude of 250 miles. The space station completes an orbit every 92.6 minutes, and can often be seen lit by the sun as it passes across the night sky.

It typically takes roughly ten minutes for the craft to move from one horizon to the other. When visible, it's the brightest manmade object in the sky.

ISS is currently hosting a crew of nine -- larger than usual. On Friday, three of the nine will depart for Earth. Cosmonaut Gennady Padalka will return as the most experienced space traveler in history, having logged 879 days in orbit. He will be joined on the trip home by Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen, and Kazakhstan cosmonaut Aidyn Aimbetov.

Among the remaining six are NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, who are now halfway through their year-long stint aboard the space station.