Astronaut

astronaut is a user account picture included in Windows XP. It was taken by Robert L. Gibson, the pilot of Space Shuttle Challenger on the mission STS-41-B. It depicts astronaut Bruce McCandless II maneuvering in space using the Manned Maneuvering Unit, while Earth can be seen in the background. As the image is owned by NASA, it is in the public domain.

Much like Bliss, the image is iconic, although in this case it was already world famous outside of its use in XP. Several copies of it have been made over the years, featuring slightly different colorings. Due to this, it has not been determined where Microsoft specifically licensed it from, as it was available from both Corbis and Getty Images.

History
The STS-41-B mission reached its fourth day. Bruce McCandless II, along with fellow astronaut Robert L. Stewart, performed the first untethered spacewalk using the Manned Maneuvering Unit. McCandless freely drifted up to 98m away from the orbiter; pilot Robert L. Gibson captured many shots of the spacewalk in action, using a Hasselblad camera and 70mm film. He recalls being amazed by how good the image would turn out, He later captioned these shots “NASA Photo by Hooter”.

Legacy
While the image is not strongly associated with XP, it has become world famous and iconic over the years, due to it depicting the first untethered spacewalk. It is among NASA’s top five most requested images. McCandless himself has described it as "an icon for human triumph over gravity or triumph over nature."