NASA astronaut orbiting at 17,500mph captures Earth 'surprise' and viewers can't believe it
One of the greatest advancements in modern technology is that, not only can we send people to space, but those in space can share videos for us Earthlings to see.
NASA astronaut Don Pettit captured footage while orbiting our planet on the International Space Station (ISS).
The video showed his view of the Earth before docking in the Soyuz spacecraft, which brought an American and two Russian astronauts to the ISS.
Footage posted by Pettit on Instagram and Twitter shows the altitude change of the station, with the astronaut promising a ‘surprise’ halfway through the video.
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He wrote in the caption: "Changes in attitude durning changes in latitude for @iss in preparation for yesterday’s Soyuz docking. A bit long but keep watching for the surprise in the middle."
The ‘surprise’ in question is beautiful footage from above of green Auroras, effectively showing the Northern Lights from above.
Pettit also shared in his post that the Soyuz docking led to the space station rotating 180 degrees and flying backwards at 17,500mph, the speed of the International Space Station's docking.
The Soyuz spacecraft launched from Kazakhstan yesterday (8 April), taking American astronaut Jonny Kim to the ISS alongside Russian cosmonaut’s Sergei Ryzhikov and Alexei Zubritsky.
The trio head to the ISS to carry out 50 scientific research missions, per Al Jazeera, in an eight month mission.
Ryzhikov, Zubritsky, and Kim are set to return to Earth in December.
In docking the Soyuz aircraft they joined the ISS with, Pettit was able to get the unique footage of the aurora’s from above.
One person commented on the footage on Instagram on Pettit’s post, saying: “Sir you should make a documentary with all the video footage that you compiled, I would love to watch this on a big screen. This is phenomenal.”
Another comment said: “Don, this is legitimately my favourite timelapse you’ve done so far - insane views.”
A third responded on Twitter to Pettit’s post, writing: “Not long, worth watching every second, loved the surprise at the end.
“We’re gonna miss your photos and videos from the ISS. Welcome back to Earth soon.”
While an exact date has yet to be set, Pettit's mission was said to six months when he arrived at the ISS in September 2024.
NASA stated that in its initial release that he would be brought back to Earth sometime in Spring of this year, before later announcing the astronaut would touch back down this month.
Selected as a NASA astronaut all the way back in April 1996, Pettit is NASA’s oldest active astronaut - aged 69 - and is currently on his third stint in space.
In this time, he has logged over a year in space and over 13 spacewalk hours.
Michael Slavin