It is a view that most people will never get to experience in their lifetime but even astronaut Tim Peake admits the scene outside the window of the International Space Station can look a little unreal at times.
From a smoking volcano to mesmerising aurora, these incredible images show Peake’s view of Earth during his time on the ISS.
The British astronaut said it was ‘impossible not to be mesmerised’ by the spectacular views of our ‘fragile’ planet.
The incredible images are being released as part of a 130th anniversary edition of the National Geographic Magazine, which is being edited by Peake.
Peake is a European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut who completed a 186-day mission working on the ISS, landing back on Earth in June 2016.
The station orbits at a height of about 255 miles (410km) and supports a crew of up to six, with crews split into groups of three.
It has a total mass of about 990,000 pounds (450,000kg) and has living space roughly equivalent to a five-bedroom house.
It completes an orbit of Earth every 92.91 minutes and moves at 17,100 miles (27,600km) per hour.
Peake said the experience made him realise we must ‘focus our attention on ensuring our planet remains a safe environment to support human life.’
‘It was impossible not to be mesmerised by the fragile beauty of our planet’, he said.
As part of an in-depth interview, Peake said he wants to launch long-distance spaceflights to Mars.
He said ahead of human missions ‘robotic probes and rovers will take samples of the Martian soil in the quest to find evidence of life there.’
This is happening as part of the ExoMars mission which will launch in Spring 2021 from Kazakhstan.