We live in a world of overstated hyperbole. A rather charmless trait that seems to peak on social media with people claiming that they “literally just died”, or describing the Ed Sheeran cameo in Game of Thrones as “the worst thing I have ever seen”. Exagerated statements such as those fall into perspective when seeing the shortlist of images that astronauts have capture from the International Space Station over the past year which are literally out of this world.
With the ISS orbiting approximately 410km above the Earth, it serves as a pretty good vantage point for astronauts to take their daily snaps of the world.
In fact, the ISS produces so many photos that the Earth Science & Remote Sensing Unit (ESRS) of the Johnson Space Center helps determine the images required and coordinates projects with other agencies. More often than not – apart from being useful in documenting urban expansion and natural disasters – these images are stunning.
Thankfully, the good people over at NASA have decided to share them with the rest of the world. Which is why the ESRS recently released a video of its 16 favourite images of Earth taken from the ISS over the past year.
