Stunning photos of French astronaut from SpaceX capture bright auroras and raging wildfires

Astronaut Thomas Pesce has just finished six months on the International Space Station on the SpaceX Crew-2 mission for NASA.

Sand took stunning photographs as it circled the Earth, capturing auroras, red salt lakes, and jagged clouds.

He also recorded signs of climate change: raging hurricanes, clouds of smoke from wildfires, and glaciers merging into wide rivers.
 
18 PHOTOS

1. Thomas Pesce, an astronaut from the European Space Agency, has just returned to Earth after a six-month shift on the International Space Station.

2. Crew-2 astronauts boarded the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and undocked from the ISS on November 7.

3. Sand was "basically the assigned professional photographer for this mission," said SpaceX engineer Keith Theis.

4. During his stay in space, Peske took more than 245,000 photographs.

5. "I think there are too many photos," Sand said in an interview with NASA on Monday.

6. In one of the last days of Sand's stay in space, the ISS flew over the highly active multi-colored aurora borealis caused by a huge flash of solar particles.

7. The aurora is just one example of the stunning views Peske and his teammates enjoyed as they orbited the Earth.

8. Beautiful patterns can be made from farmland. While it is difficult to pinpoint the exact location from space, Pesquet said these desert farms are located somewhere on the African continent.

9. “I love how something artistic sometimes comes from very practical purposes,” wrote Peske when he shared this photo on social media.

10. In some places, such as Bolivia, the beautiful patterns and plants growing in them are associated with the deforestation of tropical forests.

11. But natural landscapes also create colorful patterns.

12. Australia has particularly impressive natural formations such as these salt lakes.

13. Since the space station orbits the Earth every 90 minutes, astronauts see 16 sunrises and sunsets per day. But not all sights are beautiful.

14. “We see river pollution, air pollution, and the like,” Pesquet told French President Emmanuel Macron on November 4.

15. “What really shocked me on this mission was the extreme weather or climate events,” Sand told Macron.

16. “Year after year, we also know we are breaking records for fires, storms, and floods. And it's very, very noticeable. I saw the difference very clearly compared to my mission four or five years ago, ”Pesce told Macron.

17. Many of his photographs depict landscapes of France.

18. “We are in the civil service. We have a responsibility to do something for people and to inform people about what we are doing, ”Pesce said during an interview on Monday.