The order for the three cameras, four lenses, a flash and several teleconverters and software was placed by S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia, the general contractor of the Russian Federal Space Agency on the program operating the International Space Station. The equipment made it to the ISS on 16 June after being launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
 
"No special improvements or modifications have been made to these products," says Nikon. "They are the same products available to consumers, confirming the reliability of the D3S, D3X and Nikkor lenses."

Already on the space station are a D2X, D200, D3X digital cameras, as well as several film-based SLRs such as the F5.

"The integration of Nikon photographic equipment in space exploration has a long history and goes back to the moment when there first arose the question of photographing research conducted in orbit," says Nikolay Cherlenyak, director of operations for Energia’s ISS program. "It was then when the first Nikon film cameras and NIKKOR lenses, notable for precision and reliability, were sent into space. They had been used even on the station 'Mir'."
 
In 2009, NASA ordered eleven D3S cameras and seven AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED lenses for use in recording activities aboard the Space Shuttle and International Space Station. Read our article here.

For more information, visit www.nikon.co.uk.