NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station have captured a stunning image of the United Kingdom as seen from low-Earth orbit.
The weather was fine on the morning of Feb. 26 when astronauts snapped the photo over the sea between Wales and Ireland. The ISS was traveling 216 nautical miles away from Earth at that time.
The picturesque view shows the Blighty with its greenery and land surrounded by blue seas. The clear image distinctly shows the mountain ranges of Britain and Irelands. A Nikon D5 with a 17-35mm zoom lens was used to take the image.
Earth Images Captured From The ISS
The space station usually orbits the Earth at roughly 250 miles and travels at a staggering 17,500mph. It orbits the planet every 90 minutes, giving the astronauts a great privilege to see the breathtaking views of the Earth's land, sea, and weather systems.
From time to time, astronauts would share on Twitter captivating images, and angles of the Earth as seen from the ISS. At times, they would also post images of the moon and Earth, cloud formations, and coasts.
Last month, astronaut Anne McClain shared a captivating photo of the SpaceX Crew Dragon as the spacecraft approaches the ISS.
In May 2018, Jesse Rogerson captured an image of orange airglow enveloping the Earth's upper atmosphere.
In June 2018, commercial ports of New Jersey and several boroughs that make up New York City, including portions of Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and almost all of Manhattan, were pictured from the space station.
More recently, a crew member of Expedition 59 photographed the Richat Structure or the Eye of the Sahara located in northwestern Mauritania.
Former NASA astronaut Scott Kelly took visually stunning images while he was on board the ISS for nearly an entire year. NASA curated the images as "Best Year in Space Photographs from Scott Kelly." The selection of images is posted on NASA's website.
Images taken by astronauts on board the ISS are posted in the online gallery Space Station Photos.
20 Years Of The Space Station
The ISS celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2018. Throughout its lifetime, the space station has been home to 236 astronauts from all over the world.
Since it is the third brightest object in the sky, there are times when the ISS can be seen by the naked eye as it passes overhead. A live tracker shows the date and location of ISS sighting opportunities.
Currently on board the ISS are astronauts McClain, Nick Hague, Alexey Ovchinin, Christina Koch, David Saint-Jacques, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko who is in charge of the space station's command.
