Skip to main content

Recently returned astronaut shares stunning photos of Earth

During his most recent six-month stint on the International Space Station (ISS), astronaut Thomas Pesquet earned a reputation for taking sublime photos of Earth 250 miles below.

Pesquet returned from the orbiting outpost a couple of weeks ago, but despite posting lots of images while in space, he still has plenty left over that he’s keen to share with his many fans on Twitter and Instagram.

Recommended Videos

So since returning to Earth, he’s been putting more of his impressive photos online, with his latest post (below) featuring two striking images captured over Peru and Africa.

“Repetitive forms on Earth, but on closer inspection very, very different landscapes,” Pesquet wrote in a message accompanying the photos, adding, “The mountains of Peru emerge from the clouds, looking similar to the landscape in Africa emerging from a river.”

🌎🔍 Repetitive forms on Earth, but on closer inspection very, very different landscapes. The mountains of Peru emerge from the clouds, looking similar to the landscape in Africa emerging from a river. #MissionAlpha pic.twitter.com/q1Edgu6sK3

— Thomas Pesquet (@Thom_astro) November 27, 2021

Many of Pesquet’s pictures, like the ones above and below, resemble paintings and remind us of the boundless beauty of Earth’s numerous and varied landscapes.

Guinea Bissau 🇬🇼, that I haven't seen since my last mission four years ago (no I didn't visit all the places I photograph from space, unfortunately! https://t.co/U9cV9J4ylL #MissionAlpha pic.twitter.com/aWKeBuO7dg

— Thomas Pesquet (@Thom_astro) May 14, 2021

Toward the end of his mission, Pesquet offered some insight into how he manages to achieve such consistently good results with his space-based photography.

Hints of red and ochre, grey rocks and white clouds, flying over the Sahara (a plateau in #Chad here) is never boring. @astro_luca called it the skin of the Earth I think, and he is right, it does resemble skin. https://t.co/M0IOQ9LlS6 #MissionAlpha pic.twitter.com/NEfwl9lsPz

— Thomas Pesquet (@Thom_astro) May 17, 2021

As most of his time on the ISS was spent working on experiments, he didn’t have the chance to simply sit and stare out of the window for hours on end.

So before the start of his mission in April, he spent time researching some of the sights that he wanted to photograph. Crucially, while aboard the space station, he was also able to use special navigation software that shows the path the ISS will take and whether it will be day or night when the satellite passes over particular places.

Despite the enviable vantage point, Pesquet said that it’s “much harder” than you might think to capture stunning Earth images.

“First of all, our orbits mean we only fly over specific areas periodically,” he explained. “Secondly, even if we do fly over an area of interest, it might be during nighttime so there will be nothing to see unless it’s a city with bright streetlights.”

He added that if an astronaut is working when the station passes over an area of photographic interest, it’s not possible to just drop everything and grab the camera.

In other words, many factors have to align for the opportunity to take a great Earth shot. For Pesquet, careful planning clearly paid off.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Astronaut captures a meteor exploding in the atmosphere over Earth
iss astronaut meteor explosion screenshot 2024 09 05 202848

An incredible new video taken by a NASA astronaut living aboard the International Space Station shows an epic explosion over Earth. But it's not warfare or any other man-made horror that created the bang: instead, it is thought to be a meteor exploding as it hits the planet's atmosphere.

Astronaut Matthew Dominick has been busy with his camera this week, as he has already captured a gorgeous time-lapse video of his view from the station. But he also spotted this bright flash of teal-green light in his footage, which he slowed down to one frame per second to show the flash seen over the Nile Rver.

Read more
ISS astronaut’s stunning time-lapse video includes the Milky Way
An image taken from the ISS showing featuring Earth, an aurora, the Milky Way, and the station itself.

A NASA astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) has shared a breathtaking time-lapse video featuring Earth, an aurora, the Milky Way, and the station itself.

Matthew Dominick, who’s been on the orbital outpost since March, shared the amazing 27-second sequence (below) on social media on Sunday.

Read more
The moon looks majestic in ISS astronaut’s stunning photo
The moon as seen from the space station.

NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick has shared a stunning image that he took recently aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

The photograph shows a large-looking moon dominating the scene, which also includes clouds a couple of hundred miles below.

Read more