After a seven-month stay in space, NASA astronaut Don Pettit returned Saturday on the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft in Kazakhstan. While in space, Pettit wowed the world with a constant stream of photos taken outside the windows of the ISS. Here are some of our favorites.
1. Lake Baikal
The Cupola, one of the more famous pieces of the ISS, is a workstation with large windows allowing for a fantastic view of the Earth below. However, the main purpose of the Cupola is to allow onboard crew members a way to keep an eye on operations outside the station, like arriving spacecraft, spacewalks, and operating Canadarm2.
Normally, you’ll see plenty of photos taken through one of the Cupola windows. Pettit, being the photographer he is, used the window’s structure itself to frame Lake Baikal while flying over Russia using an 8mm fisheye from the 1980s.
2. Milky Way
We’ve all seen the jaw-dropping long exposures of the night sky out in the deserts where no light pollution can hide the view of our Milky Way galaxy. In space, the brightness of the Earth can usually make it hard to see the stars. However, using a tracker brought up on a SpaceX Crew-9 spacecraft, Pettit was able to capture this ten-second exposure to take one of the best photos of the Milky Way seen from Earth.
3. Stars… from space!
Sticking with the theme of Pettit’s homemade tracker and being able to capture stars from space, Pettit kicked off his use of the tracker by shooting through one of Dragon’s windows to capture a fabulous star field. You’ll notice from the Milky Way photo and this one that Earth’s atmosphere gives off a glow of a purple and orange tint.
4. Twilight Zone
Normally the ISS sees as many as 16 sunrises and sunsets as it orbits the Earth in a single day. However, as the Earth rotates beneath it, the station’s orbit can sometimes align with Earth’s day-night shadow known as the terminator. This time of perpetual twilight is considered the best time to photograph clouds, according to Pettit.
5. Tokyo
You can never not list at least one nighttime city photo when talking about photos from space. This one in particular is Tokyo. Featuring the bay and flowing city design, Tokyo is one of the more beautiful cities you can see from above.
Never missing a moment
During his time on station, Pettit was able to capture some absurdly well-timed photos. From comments on Starship (both launches and breakups) to the reentry of Polaris Dawn, Pettit somehow barely missed a moment.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Comments