NASA’s astronauts live and work on the International Space Station about 250 miles above the planet. From this unique vantage point, the ISS crew is treated to Earth’s most incredible features. NASA’s Johnson Space Center has shared some of these features in the photos snapped by its astronauts.
The first picture depicts a Japanese HTV-8 resupply ship attached to one of the space station’s six docking ports.
The picture was taken while the ISS was flying about 253 miles above the Atlantic Ocean.
You can see just behind the HTV-8 the curve of the planet accentuated by the camera’s wide-angle lens – a visual effect known as pincushion distortion.
You can also make out the northern coast of Africa, along Morocco and the Western Sahara desert.
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NASA news: ISS astronaut snaps STUNNING time-lapse from 250 miles up
The next NASA photo shows the ISS flying towards an orbital sunset.
As the ISS races around the planet at more than 17,000mph, it completes a lap every 90 minutes.
In other words, daytime and night time on the ISS only last 45 minutes each.
Every 24 hours, this adds up to 16 sunsets and 16 sunrises over one Earth day.
In the back of the picture, you can make out a Russian Progress cargo capsule.
International Space Station was orbiting 255 miles above the Tyrrhenian Sea
NASA Johnson Space Center
NASA said: “Portions of the International Space Station are pictured as the orbiting complex was flying into an orbital sunset.
“From front to back, are the Tranquility module, the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), the Progress 73 resupply ship and – at bottom – the Rassvet mini-research module.”
You can also see NASA’s logo on the large cylindrical module and the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) logo.
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In the third image shared by NASA, an astronaut photographed a snow-covered mountain range in Kyrgyzstan.
In-between the white-tipped peaks is the lake Issyk-Kul.
NASA said: “Issyk-Kul Lake in the central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan is surrounded by the snow-capped Tian Shen mountains.
“It is the second-largest mountain lake in the world behind Lake Titicaca in South America.
“The International Space Station was orbiting 252 miles above southeastern Kazakhstan with a ground distance of 72 miles from Issykul-Lake when this photograph was taken.”
In the fourth NASA picture, an astronaut photographed the volcano Mount Vesuvius.
The fiery mountain sits in the Gulf of Naples, about 5.6 miles (9km) from Naples.
Vesuvius forms part of the Campanian volcano arc together with the Phlegraean Fields caldera and Mount Epomeo.
NASA said: “Mount Vesuvius rests in between the Italian cities of Naples and Pompei on the southwest coast of Italy with three million people living in the region.
“The International Space Station was orbiting 255 miles above the Tyrrhenian Sea between Italy and its island of Sardegna when an Expedition 61 crewmember took this photograph.”
There are currently six astronauts on the space station as part of Expedition 60 and Expedition 61.
The crew members are NASA astronauts Jessica Meir, Andrew Morgan and Christina Koch; Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Skripochka; and ISS Commander Luca Parmitano from Italy.
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