Astronomy Picture of the Day. Portal. International Space Station: Live Webcast Streams. Click on Video Below to Start Astronaut Don Pettit onboard the International Space Station (ISS) discusses the scientific and historical aspects of the June 5, 2012 Transit of Venus across the Sun and his plans for photographing the event through some of the optical quality windows onboard the ISS including Cupola Window 1, the port forward window in Docking Compartment 1, and the Port Aft window in Mini Research Module 2.
Of note is that the non-optical quality, internal protective window pane known as a "scratch pane" will be removed from the Cupola Window. The scratch panes make crisp, sharp, and clear images impossible and this will only be the third time that one will be removed. TV: Live Webcast Streams.