International Space Station flies in front of moon in rare footage, just hours after SpaceX Dragon crew capsule docks

A videographer in Switzerland has captured footage of the International Space Station crossing in front of the moon.

A videographer in Switzerland has captured footage of the International Space Station crossing in front of the moon.

The rare footage was filmed just hours after two Nasa astronauts docked the SpaceX Dragon crew capsule to the ISS.

The ISS is often visible during the night but flying in front of the moon happens much less often.

Filmer Olivier Staiger had checked websites transit-finder.com and heavens-above.com in advance and travelled 20 miles from his home to capture the moment, where he knew there would be a "narrow path of visibility." He captured the ISS passing in front of the moon at 22:28 local time from the city of Sierre.

"I could track it for three minutes before coming into shot," Staiger told Newsflare by phone on Sunday evening.

"The ISS is brighter than any star, because it's so big and illuminated by the sun.

There is no contrail behind it and it is not blinking." Staiger adds: "The first scene is filmed in wide angle (52.5 mm), overexposed to show the surrounding stars.

Then a short clip, repeated five times, shows a closeup view of the moon as the ISS flew across [it], filmed with another camera/lens combination."