European Space Agency Astronaut Paolo Nespoli — who first traveled to space aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in 2007 — photographed a unique and stunning image of the space shuttle Endeavour docked with the International Space Station on a recent Soyuz mission.
During a 159-day mission aboard the International Space Station, Nespoli managed to find time, despite his full schedule of duties, to capture footage for a documentary film, First Orbit. Combining historic voice recordings of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin’s first manned spaceflight, the documentary charts the view that Gagarin saw during his historic mission.
In addition to this footage, Nespoli also took many still images of Earth. LightBox presents a selection of these photos that show our planet as a beautiful abstract canvas.
Volcano, Onekotan Island, Russia. May 23, 2011ESA/NASA Delta, May 23, 2011ESA/NASA Northern Canada, January 11, 2011.ESA/NASA Saudi Arabia, southern desert, Mar 31, 2011ESA/NASA Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA. May 17, 2011ESA/NASA Hills, May 23, 2011ESA/NASA King Sound coastline, Western Australia, May 9, 2011ESA/NASA Kimberley coastline, Western Australia, Apr 14, 2011ESA/NASA Blue ocean, Jan 27, 2011ESA/NASA Blue ocean, Jan 27, 2011ESA/NASA Middleton Reef, near Lord Howe Island, Tasman Sea, Apr 25, 2011ESA/NASAView of partially frozen lake on China's Tibetan plateau, Feb 11, 2011ESA/NASA Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia, Mar 2, 2011ESA/NASA Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia, Mar 2, 2011ESA/NASA Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia, Mar 2, 2011ESA/NASA Licancabur and Juriques with Laguna Verde, Mar 15, 2011ESA/NASA Lake Gairdner, Australia, May 5, 2011ESA/NASA Lake Gairdner, Australia, May 5, 2011ESA/NASA Lake Gairdner, Australia, May 5, 2011ESA/NASA Rio Paraná, Argentina, Apr 15, 2011ESA/NASA Desert, Somalia, January 30, 2011ESA/NASA Bahia Anegada, Argentina, Bahia Anegada, Argentina, February 14, 2011ESA/NASA Bahia Anegada, Argentina, Bahia Anegada, Argentina, February 14, 2011ESA/NASA Emi Koussi caldera, Chad, May 16, 2011ESA/NASA India, near Kanpur, Apr 7, 2011ESA/NASAChina, western region, Apr 28, 2011ESA/NASA Western Australia, near Lake Willis, Apr 22, 2011ESA/NASAWater canals, May 23, 2011ESA/NASA Chuquicamata copper mine, Chile, February 14, 2011ESA/NASAFars Region, Iran, January 17, 2011ESA/NASARivers of sand on border between Libya, Egypt and Sudan, Apr 25, 2011ESA/NASACan you guess what this is? Apr 30, 2011ESA/NASA
