--- title: North Korea: Photo From Space Shows Stunning Darkness description: The image was tweeted by astronaut Scott Kelly canonical: https://time.com/4051117/astronauts-stunning-photo-shows-the-darkness-that-sweeps-north-korea-at-night/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-26T15:19:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:57:40.979Z article:section: Science og:title: Astronaut's Stunning Photo Shows the Darkness That Sweeps North Korea at Night og:description: Astronaut Scott Kelly tweeted the image from space og:url: https://time.com/4051117/astronauts-stunning-photo-shows-the-darkness-that-sweeps-north-korea-at-night/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Astronaut's Stunning Photo Shows the Darkness That Sweeps North Korea at Night twitter:description: Astronaut Scott Kelly tweeted the image from space twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Astronaut's Stunning Photo Shows the Darkness That Sweeps North Korea at Night > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is TIME's weekly climate and energy newsletter, written by senior correspondent Justin Worland. It connects the energy transition to the decisions reshaping business, technology, policy and markets. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: A Year in Space - Ep.4: Launch [Watch (HLS stream): A Year in Space - Ep.4: Launch](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/uO5Kj6Tt.m3u8) (13:07)  _Published 2015-09-11. A Year in Space - Ep.4: Launch_ by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Sep 26, 2015 3:19 PM UTC by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Sep 26, 2015 3:19 PM UTC Astronaut Scott Kelly, who is spending the year in space aboard the International Space Station, tweeted a stunning image of outerspace view of North Korea on Saturday showing the vast country without power while twinkling light illuminated the rest of the world. “Feel bad for the people of #NorthKorea when I see with my own eyes they live without electricity,” Kelly tweeted. The darkness shown in North Korea is due to mandatory power cuts that the country imposes at night in order to conserve dwindling electricity resources, according to Atlantic Magazine’s [City Lab](http://www.citylab.com/work/2014/02/north-korea-night-looks-big-black-hole/8484/). > [](https://twitter.com/StationCDRKelly/status/647769852887891968) TIME is producing a series of documentary films on Scott Kelly’s mission. Watch the latest episode below, or follow the series here: [_A Year in Space_](http://time.com/tag/a-year-in-space/). ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] Yeah, so it was interesting, the other day, yesterday I was in the [ FOREIGN ] with Mischa and I go, hey. It was just him and I. Russian sauna, [ INAUDIBLE ] sauna. I go hey, you ready for this? He goes, I hope so. I need to. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [ MUSIC ] [ SOUND ] [ MUSIC ] No, no not nervous, excited, real excited. When you see it, it kind of makes it more real. Especially when they start to erect it and you realize he's going to be on that thing right there. A lot of mixed emotions. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [ FOREIGN ] [ MUSIC ] To strap into a rocket ship. It's just an incredible experience. You know, to know that within hours you're gonna be lifting off the planet. It's an amazing thing. On TV sometimes, when you watch a rocket launch, it looks relatively smooth. It looks so much in control and it's happening gradually and it's kind of a slow liftoff. That's not what it feels like. It almost feels like it's an out- of- control experience. All those millions of pounds of thrust. Gimbling of the engines and you're bouncing back and forth and just jumping off the planet. [ MUSIC ] [ FOREIGN ] [ FOREIGN ] [ FOREIGN ] [ MUSIC ] [ APPLAUSE ] [ FOREIGN ] Scott Kelly NASA [ UNKNOWN ] . >> Scott, I know that you have a brother and you are twins. Is it really difficult to not see each other for one year. No its not. [ Laughter ] [ LAUGH ] Spacemen like you, yes? Yeah, we're just this. [ LAUGH ] Thank you. He doesn't seem nervous, does he? And he, he's like that, you know, he's very good at putting his emotions aside when it comes to his work. I was asking him, I'm like, are the nerves getting to you? Are you getting excited? And he's like, you know, if I'm nervous, it's not for the launch, it's for being away for a year. Being away from you and your sister, and Amico, and my brother for a year. Not being able to see all of us is really gonna be hard on him. [ MUSIC ] When you go in the room and you're like, " Okay I'm going to talk to him behind glass ." You know it defiantly, it almost resonates the kind of isolation you're about to have away from him. [ MUSIC ] A lot of times people think, oh you poor thing, you're gonna miss him. Yeah, I'm totally gonna miss him, but it's great for us actually. You know, we enjoy it because we know how close we become. So we're excited, you know almost selfishly we're excited about what this does for us as a couple. [ MUSIC ] [ FOREIGN ] [ MUSIC ] [ FOREIGN ] [ MUSIC ] [ FOREIGN ] [ FOREIGN ] [ MUSIC ] [ SOUND ] [ INAUDIBLE ] [ SOUND ] That is like clearest water. [ INAUDIBLE ] You're gonna miss those things, huh? Yeah, sparkling water. [ COUGH ] It's good. Charlotte's having an awesome time. It's good to see. I'm so, so happy that's she's here and that she's really getting to take in this experience. Samantha as well, but Samantha has experienced it. And it's just cool to see Charlotte be able to get this. And now this is something she's gonna remember forever. And it's good. Yeah, she's. She's a little something else. Yeah, she sure is. [ LAUGH ] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [ MUSIC ] Yeah. She's great. She is. Both of them are great. They are. She's awesome. They are. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [ MUSIC ] I left some stuff up in the gym. If you could bring it back for me. A coupe of shirts. I'll be watching live. [ MUSIC ] [ CROSSTALK ] [ MUSIC ] Here they come. Ready? [ INAUDIBLE ] [ SOUND ] [ APPLAUSE ] Got get 'em Scott! Go get 'em, buddy! Hi, Dad! 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