NASA news: Astronaut snaps breathtaking views of Earth from 250 miles in space

NASA’s astronaut is one of the six International Space Station (ISS) crewmembers hurtling around the globe this very moment. The ISS orbits the Earth from an average height of around 250 miles (402km) in space. Every single day, the ISS completes 16 laps around the planet, passing over 90 percent of the human race at once. On Monday, July 29, Mr Hague shared some photos of our beautiful planet taken on one of these orbits.

He tweeted to his 40,800 followers: “Good morning from @Space_Station. Our planet is a beauty.”

The astronaut’s breathtaking photos show great clouds rolling over rocky features down below.

One of the photos even managed to capture the Moon peeking out from behind the nightside of Earth.

The photos were praised by Mr Hague’s followers who complimented his snapshots.

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Twitter user Anuradha Verma said: “If this doesn’t bring humanity together, what will? Beautiful pictures of our only home!”

Nancy Dingley said: “Love these sharing of your view of us! Keep them coming!”

And Kathleen Fredette said: “Thanks for gracing us all with your work and talent!”

Mr Hague joined the space station in March, 2019, after a failed Soyuz rocket launch in October 2018 delayed the start of his mission.

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The US flight test engineer was selected for NASA’s astronaut candidate class of 2013 and joined ISS Expedition 59 and Expedition 60.

The astronaut is trained in Russian, robotics, spacewalks and wilderness survival training.

Mr Hague completed his astronaut training in July 2015.

NASA said: “Hague was the first astronaut from his class to be assigned to a mission which launched on October 11, 2018.

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“Unfortunately, he and his crewmate Alexey Ovchinin, of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, were forced to abort the mission when a rocket booster experienced a malfunction shortly after the launch of their Soyuz MS-10. The aborted spacecraft landed safely.”

Together with astronauts Christina Koch and Andrew Morgan, Mr Hague is one of the three Americans currently onboard the ISS.

The remaining astronauts are Commander Alexey Ovchinin, Luca Parmitano and Alexander Skvortsov.

Right now, he is working the Space Moss experiment to study how a microgravity environment impacts plant growth.

Today (July 30), the astronaut shared a photo of the experiment, saying: “The plants only need a small area for growth – an advantage for their potential use in space and future bases on the Moon or Mars.”

source: express.co.uk