The worldwide phenomenon of the "selfie" photograph has now gone beyond Earth, as a NASA astronaut has sent the first Instagram self-portrait every beamed from outer space.
From aboard the International Space Station, astronaut Steven Swanson sent the selfie with the caption, "Back on ISS, life is good."
NASA has had an Instagram account since November of last year, with around 50,000 followers logging on at its launch, but Swanson's selfie snap is the first ISS photo to appear on the photo-sharing service.
Swanson, a veteran of two previous Space Shuttle missions, snapped his selfie in a control tower cupola with the earth visible in its panoramic windows.
Though his snap is the first ISS photo on Instagram, it's not the first social media post from the space station; in May 2009 NASA astronaut Mike Massimo sent the first tweet from space while aboard the orbiting facility.
"Launch was awesome!! I am feeling great, working hard, & enjoying the magnificent views, the adventure of a lifetime has begun!" he posted to his @Astro-Mike account.
Since its posting to the ISS Instagram account on April 7, Swanson's selfie has gone viral and has attracted almost 4,000 "likes."
Selfies from space have even become an international affair; in December 2013 China's Jade Rabbit lunar rover beamed back a selfie of itself from near its landing module on the moon's surface.
Other astronauts have used social media while on missions in Earth orbit. Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield beamed videos and tweets from the ISS, and even created a music video featuring his rendition of Davie Bowie's song "Space Oddity."
NASA has been at the forefront of using social media to connect with the public and engage it in its mission and operations.
"We're constantly looking to expand our social media portfolio to include tools that will best tell NASA's story of exploration and discovery," NASA spokesperson Lauren Worley said in a statement in September 2013. "Instagram has a passionate following of users who are hungry for new and exciting photos."
That the selfie has moved beyond Earth shows just how popular it has become, as proven in 2013 when the Oxford Dictionaries proclaimed it Word of the Year.
Defining it as ""a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website," the dictionary said the frequency of its use had increased by 17,000 percent from 2012.
