Astronaut showcases the view of Earth from aboard the International Space Station and it’s seriously mind-blowing
An astronaut showcased the incredible view of Earth they have from aboard the International Space Station.
ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen gave people an insight into what astronauts can see of Earth from the ISS, and it’s seriously mind-blowing.
Mogensen gave a tour of the space station which was uploaded onto the European Space Agency YouTube channel.
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The astronaut had called the place home for the last six months after docking at the ISS on August 27, 2023.
On the last day of his mission, before departing back down to Earth on March 11, 2024, Mogensen showed the public around, giving us a rare glimpse of our planet from space.
The astronaut entered the Cupola, which is an observatory module with seven windows that are used to conduct experiments, dockings and observations of Earth.
Turning the camera to a window facing the Earth, he said: “This is the best view of the world. You can see the entire world from up here.”
The spectacular views caused people to react on social media, with one user writing: “The sight of our blue sphere remains in my personal memory.”
Another added: “First house tour in space!”
Astronauts have previously reported experiencing something called the ‘overview effect’ after getting back on solid ground following a mission in space.
The term refers to a phenomenon they face when looking at Earth from space, where they get an ‘unexpected and overwhelming feeling of emotion’.
It was during a mission to the ISS, when former NASA astronaut Ronald Garan remembered looking down and seeing a long line of lights stretching across Asia.
After being puzzled at first, he realized that it was a man-made structure of the border between India and Pakistan.
In an interview with Big Think, he explained: “We keep trying to deal with issues such as global warming, deforestation, biodiversity loss as stand alone issues when in reality they’re just symptoms of the underlying root problem and the problem is, that we don’t see ourselves as planetary.
“When I looked out of the window of the International Space Station, I saw the paparazzi-like flashes of lightning storms, I saw dancing curtains of auroras that seemed so close it was as if we could reach out and touch them and I saw the unbelievable thinness of our planet's atmosphere.
“In that moment I was hit by the sobering realization.”
Mogensen gave a full tour of the space station, including the kitchen and workstations where the crew work to ‘help push science forward’.