Skip to main content

Astronaut’s video offers rare fish-eye view from the ISS

An astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) has shared a rarely seen view from the orbiting outpost that shows our planet from horizon to horizon.

The video, captured by Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, was made possible by recording Earth through a fish-eye lens. Covering a distance of about 4,300 miles, the video (below) starts just south of Ireland before passing over France, the Mediterranean islands of Sardinia and Sicily, the Nile, and the Red Sea before reaching the Horn of Africa.

The approximate route taken by the ISS, from just south of Ireland to the Horn of Africa around 4,300 miles away.
The approximate route taken by the ISS in the video, from just south of Ireland to the Horn of Africa around 4,300 miles away. Google

“Fly with me! From Ireland to the Horn of Africa through a fisheye lens,” Cristoforetti wrote in a tweet accompanying the video. “It distorts the geometry a bit, but it allows me to show you the almost entire view we have from Space Station, from horizon to horizon!”

Recommended Videos

Fly with me! From Ireland to the Horn of Africa through a fisheye lens – it distorts the geometry a bit, but it allows me to show you the almost entire view we have from Space Station, from horizon to horizon! #MissionMinerva @Space_Station @esa pic.twitter.com/ORKUNYouKQ

— Samantha Cristoforetti (@AstroSamantha) August 31, 2022

Cristoforetti has been keeping her one million Twitter followers up to date with her space station activities since reaching orbit five months ago. Besides offering advice to wannabe astronauts, past posts have also included a gorgeous view of a moonlit Earth, a lunar eclipse from space, a time lapse showing how the sun sometimes doesn’t set for astronauts on the station, and, just last week, an investigation into a strange bright light that she spotted on Earth.

Cristoforetti even took time out to recreate a moment from the hit 2013 space movie Gravity.

The International Space Station has been in operation for two decades and orbits Earth at an altitude of about 250 miles. For more on how visiting astronauts live and work aboard the space-based laboratory, check out these videos made by various crews over the years.

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)…
NASA reveals new launch plan for SpaceX’s Crew-10 — here’s how to watch
The crew of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission.

[UPDATE: SpaceX and NASA scrubbed Wednesday's launch attempt due to a technical issue on the ground. The article below has been updated to include details on the new launch target.]

SpaceX and NASA called off the launch of Crew-10 to the space station on Wednesday evening. They're now targeting 7:03 p.m. ET on Friday, March 14, for the launch of Crew-10 from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Read on for full details on how to watch a livestream of the event.

Read more
Watch how astronauts train for the space station’s microgravity
ESA's aircraft for astronaut training.

The main difference between life on the International Space Station (ISS) and life here on terra firma is microgravity, which forces you to float around rather than walk.

To prepare newbie astronauts for such conditions, NASA, or in this case, the European Space Agency (ESA), takes new astronauts on special flights that are able to imitate -- albeit briefly -- the space station's microgravity environment. The important training enables the astronauts to get used to moving, working, and even jumping in microgravity. If they get really good, they'll be able to dance, too.

Read more
Astronaut’s jaw-dropping photo shows a different kind of ‘aurora’
The so-called "Thai aurora" as seen from the space station.

Forget seeing the Great Wall of China from space. Everyone now knows that that’s a falsehood -- unless, of course, you have an astronaut peering through a high-powered lens. But one thing you can definitely see from space are the fishing boats of Thailand.

Current space station astronaut Don Pettit has just shared a striking long-exposure image that shows the boats’ green lights streaking through the frame. The top of the photo also shows part of the space station as well as star streaks in the background.

Read more