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 for the first time, while Earth can be seen in the background. As the image is owned by NASA, it is in the public domain. It also appears on a card in cards.dll.

Much like Bliss, the image is iconic, although in this case it was already world famous prior to 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, and also hoped to get an Aviation Week cover with the photo. He later captioned these shots “NASA Photo by Hooter”; per his wishes, he got two Aviation Week covers featuring it.

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. The shots are among NASA’s top five most requested images, and it has appeared on various forms of media, such as album covers and wall clocks. McCandless himself has described it as "an icon for human triumph over gravity or triumph over nature.", and feels its popularity is a result of him having his sun visor down, meaning "it could be anybody in there". and that "it's sort of a representation not of Bruce McCandless, but mankind." Gibson is also pleased with its success, having appeared on two Aviation Week covers as he wished for, and he feels the photos "just won't go away."