Facts Check: Literally the best selfie ever taken. #FlatEarth

News Claim: An image of an astronaut taking a selfie out in space is viral on social media.

Viral News Today:  Literally the best selfie ever taken. #FlatEarth

Literally the best selfie ever taken. #FlatEarth 📸 🌍 🚀 pic.twitter.com/bnIZi8ybJg

— Adam Dandy (@AdamDandy) July 3, 2021

Best selfie EVER!!!! pic.twitter.com/8D37HZNA0V

— Physics-astronomy.org (@OrgPhysics) July 5, 2021

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News Verification: The astronaut selfie has been widely liked and shared on social media platforms.

This is not a real picture taken; it is digitally altered from another selfie of an astronaut.

The original image can be found on the NASA website here.

Also as mentioned by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Aki Hoshide, Expedition 32 flight engineer, uses a digital still camera to expose a photo of his helmet visor during the mission's third session of extravehicular activity (EVA). During the six-hour, 28-minute spacewalk, Hoshide and NASA astronaut Sunita Williams (visible in the reflections of Hoshide's helmet visor), flight engineer, completed the installation of a Main Bus Switching Unit (MBSU) that was hampered last week by a possible misalignment and damaged threads where a bolt must be placed. They also installed a camera on the International Space Station's robotic arm, Canadarm2. The bright sun is visible at left.

The person in the viral picture is Japanese astronaut Aki Hoshide from Japan.

News verdict: Digitally altered image