--- 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: 2026-02-22T11:17:36.842Z 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 ## 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. 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