{"id":266280,"date":"2026-02-03T23:51:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T23:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/266280\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T23:51:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T23:51:08","slug":"reddit-mod-deleted-breathtaking-photo-taken-by-nasa-astronaut-from-space-because-it-was-blurry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/266280\/","title":{"rendered":"Reddit Mod Deleted Breathtaking Photo Taken by NASA Astronaut From Space Because It Was “Blurry”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Veteran NASA astronaut Don Pettit returned from his 220-day mission on board the International Space Station in April 2025, the day of his 70th birthday, making him the oldest active astronaut<\/a> on the space agency\u2019s roster.<\/p>\n

During his seven-month stint on board the aging orbital outpost, his fourth trip to space, Pettit took the time to photograph some dazzling views of the Earth below.<\/p>\n

On October 20, 2024, he took a stunning picture of an airplane that was passing by at cruising altitude hundreds of miles below him, a perspective only a handful of people get to enjoy. The plane was likely at around 7.5 miles in altitude, while the ISS orbits the Earth at around 250 miles.<\/p>\n

\"ADon Pettit \/ NASA<\/p>\n

But a moderator at the r\/aviation subreddit didn\u2019t look too kindly on the shot after Pettit posted it to the forum<\/a> over the weekend, deeming it too \u201cblurry<\/a>\u201d and taking it down as a result. According to a circulating screenshot<\/a> posted by a user who first brought attention to the takedown, the mod team pointed to the subreddit\u2019s rules to justify its decision, which state that \u201call blurry or low quality pictures are removed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The controversial decision kicked off a heated discussion \u2014 and prompted an interjection by a different moderator.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe brought some new people onto the mod team and unfortunately there are some Learning curves,\u201d the moderator wrote<\/a>, apologizing for the takedown. \u201cI caught the issue and fixed it. Thanks to everyone who let me know that this happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d say the quality of the picture is pretty dang good considering that it\u2019s from about 250 miles away,\u201d the mod added<\/a> in a separate apology addressed to Pettit directly.<\/p>\n

A quick perusal of Pettit\u2019s submissions to Reddit shows several other fascinating vantage points from the ISS, from atmospheric distortion of the Moon<\/a> that makes it appear squashed to the Milky Way glinting behind the Earth<\/a> at night. Another long exposure<\/a> shows the trails left behind by SpaceX\u2019s Sun-reflecting Starlink satellites.<\/p>\n

Other Reddit users were far more impressed than the mod who pulled the post down.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan\u2019t believe I got flexed by someone on ISS,\u201d one user wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cTower, can we get a speed check?\u201d another user joked. (The ISS orbits the Earth at a ground speed of 17,100 mph, while an average passenger jet travels at around 500 to 700 mph<\/a>, depending on conditions.)<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, many users on the subreddit were left with a bad taste in their mouths, with one user describing the unfortunate takedown<\/a> as \u201cReddit in a nutshell, baby!\u201d \u2014 in an apparent reference to the often-pedantic nature of the people who moderate niche interest subreddits.<\/p>\n

\u201cDear mods, please show NASA how to take better pictures from space so you don\u2019t have to delete them,\u201d the user, who initially raised the issue, wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a joke,\u201d another user mocked<\/a>. One of the most epic pics of aviation from the coolest possible place from an actual astronaut.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018This post breaks our rules,’\u201d they added. \u201cGive me a break, man.\u201d<\/p>\n

More on astrophotography: Astonishing Photo Shows Man Skydiving Through Sun<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Veteran NASA astronaut Don Pettit returned from his 220-day mission on board the International Space Station in April…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":266281,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[111,139,69,147,392],"class_list":["post-266280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/266281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}