An astronaut who spent 152 days in space has revealed the ‘most breathtaking’ thing he saw while in orbit.
Catching a rare glimpse at the sights from above our planet is a spectacle that only a few people have had the chance to ever see.
And now one astronaut shed some light on the most ‘stunning’ things he saw during his time in space.
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Clayton Anderson is a retired NASA astronaut who once spent 152 consecutive days in orbit aboard the International Space Station.
For the mission, he took part as a member of the Expedition 15 crew which launched on June 8 2007.
He remained onboard as a member of the Expedition 16 crew before returning back down to Earth on November 7 2007.
Throughout his career as an astronaut, Anderson spent a total of 167 days in space and is now an award-winning author and works as a public speaker.
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On his social media accounts, he regularly offers his insight about his time in space and will often shed some light on different aspects of the job.
And it was in a post on Instagram that Anderson revealed something that he considers to be the ‘most breathtaking’ thing he saw from above the Earth’s atmosphere.
Uploading a photo to the platform, Anderson wrote in the caption: “One of the most breathtaking things I have ever seen in space is a moonrise. During my very first spacewalk, I remember hanging on the front of the Space Station (our spacewalk dictated that the ISS fly backward) and I was able to see my first moonrise.
“Here, Astronaut Matthew Dominick captured this stunning photo, the crescent moon rising above our beautiful, but thin, atmosphere. An incredible shot for sure, but seeing a full moon rise, while wearing a spacesuit, and clinging to a handrail in the vacuum of space, with it all happening right in front of you, is just incredible and beyond words.”
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The image shows the crescent moon visible just above the Earth’s atmosphere.
Anderson completed six spacewalks during his career with NASA.
In another post, he shared a moment he had where he had to keep himself ‘from freaking out during a space mission’.
Anderson wrote: “Honestly, the scariest things I did in space were using the Shuttle toilet (Atlantis) for the first time, and hearing that our Russian toilet had broken and couldn’t be fixed until the next day.”
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The US astronaut revealed that the toilet incident led to him sampling the facilities available in a Russian spacecraft.
He went on to explain: “That would lead me to usage of the Soyuz spaceship toilet…, a VERY unique opportunity. But now, I can brag that ‘I have pooped in four different spacecraft!’”