The International Space Station (ISS) orbits the Earth at a height of around 250 miles and its astronauts often get to witness a unique view of the planet from their position that most people on earth will never get. The space station makes 16 trips around the Earth every day and during one such trips, a NASA astronaut has clicked an amazing bird's-eye-view image of the Amazon river from the ISS.
Jessica Meir posted the stunning photo of the world's largest river on her Twitter handle. She wrote: "This year I am thankful for the extraordinary opportunity to see our precious planet Earth from above, and to all those on the ground that are striving to protect it. #HappyThanksgiving."
The picture of the Amazon river was posted a few days after Meir shared a beautiful image of the city of London during the night on November 26. The photo of London was captioned: "Behold the bright lights of fair London town! Views of city lights from above evoke images of spider webs, shattered glass, or fractal art. Many fond memories with my relatives and friends in this lovely city – thinking of you all from low Earth orbit," she added.
If the night sky is clear, one can see the space station pass overhead. NASA says, "You can see the ISS from Earth on a clear night. It's the third brightest object in the night sky and easy to spot if you know where and when to look up... Visible to the naked eye, it looks like a fast-moving plane only much higher and traveling thousands of miles an hour faster!"
Meir is expected to return next spring when her journey as a part of NASA's Expedition 61 and 62 ends.
