Earth Illuminated
The International Space Station is more than just an orbiting home and laboratory for its crew members. Floating more than 200 miles above our planet, it also serves as the ultimate manned Earth observation outpost. Using professional digital cameras with an ample array of lenses, astronauts capture images of the planet’s dynamic atmosphere and changing landscape from this unique vantage point. More than 700,000 photographs have been taken to date. The collection includes shots of glowing auroras and brightly lit cities from around the globe. Such images compliment observations made by NASA's fleet of Earth science satellites. Watch the video to see a compilation of time-lapse views of Earth taken by astronauts aboard the space station.
Explore views of our planet taken from the International Space Station.
Wonder what astronauts see when they view Earth from space? Watch this video to find out.
Lightning flashes erupt over Africa as seen from the space station.
Crew members aboard the space station captured this image of auroras while passing over the Indian Ocean in 2011.
NASA astronaut Don Pettit positions his cameras for making observations out of the space station's viewing windows.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Video and images courtesy of NASA/JSC/Image Science and Analysis Laboratory/The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth
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Writer
- Julia Calderone (USRA)
Release date
This page was originally published on Tuesday, April 15, 2014.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:50 PM EDT.