Orbiting 250 miles above Earth, the views from the International Space Station (ISS) are second to none, and always make a huge impact on astronauts lucky enough to stay there.<\/p>\n
NASA\u2019s Zena Cardman, who returned from the ISS in January after a visit lasting just over five months, this week shared a gorgeous time lapse (below) showing \u201ca little of everything,\u201d including sunset, lightning storms, air glow, moon glint, stars, and sunrise, and even a docked Dragon spacecraft bathing in the ever-changing light.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe space station rarely makes big changes to its orientation, but we were lucky to experience such maneuvers (flipping around to fly butt-first, then flipping back again) before and after each CRS-33 reboost,\u201d Cardman wrote in her post, referring to how the station is occasionally nudged to a higher orbit by a docked spacecraft to counteract atmospheric drag that gradually lowers its altitude.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis 60x speed time lapse was one of my favorites since it captures a little of everything \u2014 sunset, lightning storms, air glow, moon glint, stars, and sunrise \u2014 as we did one (actually very slow) orbital cartwheel from Atlantic to Pacific.\u201d<\/p>\n
The @Space_Station<\/a> rarely makes big changes to its orientation, but we were lucky to experience such maneuvers (flipping around to fly butt-first, then flipping back again) before and after each @spacex<\/a> CRS-33 reboost. This 60x speed timelapse was one of my favorites since it\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/7IsZnb1G7G<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Zena Cardman (@zenanaut) February 17, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n The station is orbiting Earth at about 17,500 mph (28,000 kph), circling the planet around 16 times in every 24-hour period. That means astronauts aboard the ISS get to experience 16 sunsets and 16 sunrises during that period.<\/p>\n Whether light or dark, many astronauts like to head to the seven-window Cupola during their time off, grabbing a camera to get some shots of Earth or set up a time lapse.<\/p>\n French astronaut Thomas Pesquet even published a book showcasing his impressive work. Pesquet planned his time aboard the ISS carefully, taking breaks from science work when he knew the station would be passing over a visually striking part of Earth. Camera in hand, the astronaut would capture breathtaking shots<\/a> before sharing them on social media.<\/p>\n American astronaut Don Pettit has also earned a reputation for his stunning visual work<\/a> captured aboard the ISS, with some of his more surreal images<\/a> also receiving much praise.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t