Photo credit: NASA
NASA has just released a stunning new image captured by astronaut Christina Hammock Koch of Earth taken from aboard the International Space Station. She said: “A couple times a year, the International Space Station orbit happens to align over the day/night shadow line on Earth. We are continuously in sunlight, never passing into Earth’s shadow from the Sun, and the Earth below us is always in dawn or dusk. Beautiful time to cloud watch.” Read more for two videos and additional information.
“The International Space Station orbits roughly 220 miles above the Earth and completes one trip around our planet every 92 minutes, according to NASA. It travels at an astonishing 17,200 miles per hour, which allows astronauts to be able to see as many as 15 or 16 sunrises and sunsets every day. That amounts to tens of thousands of sunsets and sunrises viewed of the course of a year. For example, retired US astronaut Scott Kelly observed 10,944 sunrises and sets during his year in space,” according to The Daily Mail.