Scott Kelly, a NASA astronaut on a one year long space mission, shared some awe-inspiring footage of his view of aurora borealis from the International Space Station (ISS) a few days ago. The footage, which Kelly shared via his Twitter account on the 141st day of his stay at ISS, gave Earth-dwellers everywhere a rare view of the phenomenon, which is also known as the Northern Lights.
Kelly captioned the photograph on Saturday, writing: “#Aurora trailing a colorful veil over Earth this morning. Good morning from @space_station!”
#Aurora trailing a colorful veil over Earth this morning. Good morning from @space_station! #YearInSpace pic.twitter.com/q7C7R5D6fu
— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) August 15, 2015
According to a report on Newsmax, Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko, a Russian cosmonaut, are halfway through their stay at the ISS. Nearly every day, Kelly shares photographs and video clips which document his time in space. Some of his past posts have shown views of the Egyptian pyramids, Perseid meteor shower and the Suez Canal from his unique vantage point.
Kelly first was launched into space on March 27, according to Chron, and he is currently on one of the longest space missions in the history of humanity. He will be in orbit around the Earth for a total of one year. The object of this mission is to help scientists to understand what the effects of space travel on the human body are in the long term, then use this information to plan an anticipated manned voyage to Mars. Last week, Kelly shared his first time eating vegetables grown in space, an experiment which proved successful as one more step towards sustaining astronauts during interplanetary voyages.
Nearly every day, Kelly shares photographs and video clips which document his time in space. Some of his past posts have shown views of the Egyptian pyramids, Perseid meteor shower and the Suez Canal, from his unique vantage point.
The only interesting thing about Kelly, however, is not his photography skill. He was specifically chosen for this mission partly because he has an identical twin who is also an astronaut. This will give scientists a chance to compare a body that has been in orbit in space for a year to one living on earth, both having started the experiment as close to the same as one can get.
As Kelly continues his unique voyage, earth dwellers eagerly anticipate what jaw-dropping footage of our lovely home he will share next.
