An External High-Definition Camera (EHDC) on the International Space Station captured this image (above) of Hurricane Idalia at 11:35 a.m. Eastern Time (15:35 Universal Time) on August 29, 2023. Idalia was a category 1 storm over the Gulf of Mexico with sustained winds of 140 kilometers (85 miles) per hour, according to the National Hurricane Center. Part of Cuba is visible on the right side of the image.
As the storm moved north over the Gulf, it quickly strengthened and made landfall over the Big Bend region of Florida on the morning of August 30, 2023, as a category 3 storm.
An astronaut on the International Space Station used a handheld camera to capture the second photo (below) at 10:44 a.m. Eastern Time (14:44 Universal Time) on August 30, several hours after landfall. Idalia had weakened to a category 1 storm by this time with sustained winds of 150 kilometers (90 miles) per hour. It continued to weaken as it moved northeast over Georgia, South Carolina, and then offshore over the Atlantic Ocean on August 31.
Astronaut photograph ISS069-E-084548 was acquired on August 29, 2023, with a Nikon D4 digital camera using a focal length of 65 millimeters. The image was taken by an externally mounted camera on the ISS during Expedition 69. Astronaut photograph ISS069-E-084870 was acquired on August 30, 2023, with an Apple camera using a focal length of 1 millimeter. The image was taken by a member of the Expedition 69 crew. The images have been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast, and lens artifacts have been removed. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory as part of the ISS National Lab to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth. Text by Kathryn Hansen.
