French astronaut's jaw-dropping photos from SpaceX mission capture bright auroras and raging wildfires
Morgan McFall-Johnsen
European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Thomas Pesquet plays with an arrival of French macarons on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2017.ESA/NASA
- Astronaut Thomas Pesquet just ended six months on the International Space Station as part of SpaceX's Crew-2 mission for NASA.
- Pesquet snapped jaw-dropping photos while he orbited Earth, capturing auroras, colorful crops, red salt lakes, and bumpy clouds.
Thomas Pesquet, a European Space Agency astronaut, just returned to Earth after a six-month shift on the International Space Station.
Pesquet inside the ISS's cupola window on October 16, 2021. ESA/NASA
The Crew-2 astronauts boarded SpaceX's Crew Dragon spaceship and undocked from the ISS on November 7.
Russia's Soyuz spaceship and Nauka laboratory module on the ISS, on September 15, 2021. ESA/NASA–T. Pesquet
Pesquet served as ISS commander for the last month of his spaceflight.
The next day, they plummeted to a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.
A Dragon spaceship carrying cargo approaches the ISS on August 30, 2021. ESA/NASA–T. Pesquet
Pesquet was "basically the designated professional photographer of this mission," SpaceX engineer Kate Tice said on a livestream, as the Crew Dragon backed away from the ISS.
Pesquet shared the photo above with a caption: "The setting sun gives some beautiful pastel colours to the landscape along the Paraná and Uruguay rivers." ESA/NASA–T. Pesquet
During his time in space, Pesquet took more than 245,000 photos from about 250 miles above the Earth.
"Karkheh Dam, Iran. I'm blown away by the swirling blues in these pictures and their contrast with the parched earth," Thomas Pesquet wrote in a caption for the photo above. ESA/NASA–T. Pesquet
"I think there's too many pictures," Pesquet said in a NASA Q&A on Monday.
A salt lake in Iran, photographed from the ISS on August 17, 2021. ESA/NASA–T. Pesquet
On one of Pesquet's last days in space, the ISS flew above a highly active, multicolored aurora borealis, triggered by a huge burst of particles from the sun.
A powerful aurora seen from the space station on November 4, 2021. ESA/NASA–T. Pesquet
"We flew right above the center of the ring, rapid waves and pulses all over," Pesquet wrote when he shared the photo. Some of the aurora's spikes reach higher than the space station, he added.
"We've been treated with some unbelievable auroras," Pesquet said during the Q&A. "It's sad, because the pictures just don't do them justice."
The aurora, photographed from the ISS on August 20, 2021. ESA/NASA–T. Pesquet
Pesquet said he saw about 15 to 20 instances of the aurora during the mission.
Auroras are just one example of stunning views Pesquet and his crewmates enjoyed as they orbited Earth.
The coast of Namibia, seen from space on September 23, 2021. ESA/NASA–T. Pesquet
Among Pesquet's favorite subjects is what he calls "crop art" — the colorful geometry of agricultural fields.
Fields of crops in Canada, captured by Pesquet on June 3, 2021. ESA/NASA–T. Pesquet
Agricultural areas can make beautiful patterns. While it's hard to pin down exact locations from space, Pesquet said these farms in the desert are somewhere on the African continent.
A desert peppered with blue-and-green circles of growing crops, captured from the ISS. ESA/Thomas Pesquet
"I like how something artistic sometimes comes out of a very practical purpose," Pesquet wrote when he shared this photo on social media.
Pesquet photographed crops somewhere in Mexico or the Southwestern US on August 17, 2021. ESA/NASA–T. Pesquet
"Circles, squares, (salt) mines and irrigation are not meant to be pretty from up close, but they dazzle us from above and at a giant scale," he added.
In some places, like Bolivia, pretty patterns — and the crops growing within them — are due to the clearing of tropical forests.
Pesquet shared this image on Twitter with the caption, "Star-like patterns in San Pedro Limón, Bolivia where areas of the tropical dry forest have been cleared for agriculture." ESA/Thomas Pesquet
But natural landscapes make colorful patterns, too.
Pesquet shared this photo with the caption, "More crazy beautiful landscapes in Australia, I see fractals, watercolours and so much more!" ESA/NASA–T. Pesquet
Australia has particularly dramatic natural formations, like these salt lakes.
Salt lakes in Australia, photographed from the space station on May 14, 2021. ESA/NASA–T. Pesquet
Since the space station orbits Earth every 90 minutes, astronauts see 16 sunrises and sunsets per day. But not all the sights are beautiful.
The light from a sunset falls across the ocean on June 15, 2021. ESA/NASA–T. Pesquet/A. Conigli
"We see the pollution of rivers, atmospheric pollution, things like that," Pesquet told French President Emmanuel Macron on November 4.
Wildfire smoke covers crops near California's Sequoia National Park on August 20, 2021. ESA/NASA–T. Pesquet
He spoke with Macron on a video call from the ISS, as world leaders met during the UN climate conference in Scotland. Negotiators' goal in Scotland should be to speed up humanity's response to the climate crisis, Macron responded, according to The Associated Press.
"What really shocked me on this mission were extreme weather or climate phenomena," Pesquet told Macron.
Hurricane Elsa photographed from the space station on July 4, 2021. ESA/NASA–T. Pesquet
"We saw entire regions burning from the space station, in Canada, in California," he said, adding, "the fragility of Earth is a shock."
Wildfire smoke rises from burning forests in Canada on August 12, 2021. ESA/NASA–T. Pesquet
"Year after year, we also know we are beating records for fires, for storms, for floods. And that is very, very visible. I very clearly saw the difference compared to my mission four or five years ago," Pesquet told Macron.
Pesquet captured Patagonia's melting Upsala Glacier in in a collage of photos. ESA/NASA–T. Pesquet/A. Conigli
Pesquet also saw comforting sights, like his birthplace of Normandy, France.
Pesquet took this photo of Normandy shortly after arriving at the ISS, April 28, 2021. ESA/NASA–T. Pesquet
Many of his photos feature France's landscapes.
The Gulf of Morbihan in France, on October 8, 2021. ESA/NASA–T. Pesquet
"We are in public service. We have a responsibility to do things for the people and inform people of what we're doing," Pesquet said during the Q&A on Monday.
Pesquet shared this photo with the caption, "Kiev, and the beautiful swirls of the river upstream. I remember taking this picture in winter last time, when the river was frozen and all white." ESA/NASA–T. Pesquet
"I think there's a responsibility also to share this point of view because you see the fragility of the Earth," he said, adding, "When you see the Earth from space, it's very finite, limited resources."
Clouds moving through Earth's atmosphere on June 11, 2021. ESA/NASA–T. Pesquet
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