At 67, Don Pettit is NASA’s oldest energetic astronaut. Throughout three journeys to the Worldwide House Station (ISS) — in 2002, 2008, and 2011 — Pettit earned a popularity as a extremely expert photographer, creating extraordinary photographs of the ISS, Earth, and past.
Pettit, who describes himself as “an engineer by education, a scientist by career, and an explorer by coronary heart,” continues to share his wonderful photos on Twitter and Instagram, wowing his many followers on the social media platforms.
Try this one, for instance, captured throughout ISS Expedition 30, a six-month mission that started in December 2011. Shared on Twitter on Sunday, the picture options star trails over Earth.
One other outstanding effort, shared just some days in the past, reveals mangrove forests off the coast of India. “Sunlit, specular photo voltaic reflections from the floor of water, give an intense spot of sunshine that not solely differentiates the place water is and isn’t, but in addition can present floor ripples brought on by floor circulation,” Pettit says in a remark accompanying the picture.
In one other gorgeous instance of his picture abilities, this seize reveals a sundown from inside the area station’s Cupola, a seven-window module from the place many visiting ISS astronauts take their Earth photographs.
One other magnificence, this time displaying an erupting volcano (in close to infrared) in Argentina’s south Patagonia area. Taken by Pettit throughout his most up-to-date ISS mission, the magenta areas present wholesome forests, whereas the grey areas point out the place the eruption destroyed the environment.
Pettit says that cities at evening are one among his favourite sights to seize. The one under reveals Spain and Portugal, with the brilliant lights of Madrid and Lisbon, amongst many different city areas, clearly seen.
And right here’s one other stunner from the Cupola. The lengthy publicity causes metropolis lights some 250 miles under to look as trails.
And eventually, right here we see Pettit in motion, switching quickly between an infrared digital camera and a normal-visible digital camera utilizing a small rig that he constructed. Right here, the NASA astronaut is capturing by way of a window on the Russian service module moderately than from the Cupola.
Remember to check out Pettit’s Twitter account or Instagram feed for extra examples of his work.
One other astronaut to have made an impression along with his images is Thomas Pesquet of the European House Company. Throughout two ISS missions — the newest one in 2021 — Pesquet managed to seize many stunning photographs of Earth, although as he as soon as defined, getting these photographs required a lot preparation.
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