New Zealand is seldom photographed from orbit because it is one of the cloudier parts of planet, and because crew sleep periods often occur when the ISS passes over the area.
The cradle of three major religions—and of much of modern civilization—was captured in this photograph by an astronaut on the International Space Station.
Fires in the San Bernadino Mountains, driven by Santa Ana winds, burned out of control Sunday morning when these images were taken from the International Space Station (ISS) at roughly 11 a.m. PST. Thick yellow smoke blows south, blanketing the valley below. This photgraph, looking southeast, captures the smoke pall as the ISS approached and passed over the region. Lake Arrowhead is the reservoir near the left edge of the photograph.
In this astronaut photograph from the International Space Station, the lights of Qatar show informative demographic detail that is very difficult to discern in daylight images.