NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli captured this sparkling image of Shanghai at night from the International Space Station (ISS) as it orbited 260 miles above the East China Sea. We can no tonly see the city lights, but also the Huangpu River flowing through the populous downtown.
Astronauts can use the space station as a unique platform for observing Earth with both hands-on and automated equipment. To date, crew members have captured hundreds of thousands of images, recording natural weather phenomena like storms in real time, observe natural events such as volcanic eruptions as they happen, and provide data to ground personnel for programming automated Earth-sensing systems.
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Having a crew on board provides flexibility, a significant advantage over sensors on robotic spacecraft. Astronauts take images using handheld digital cameras, usually through windows in the station’s cupola, for Crew Earth Observations,” said Monika Luabeya, Web Editor at NASA.
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