I couldn’t resist this classic piece of HD time-lapse planet porn, as shot from the International Space Station.
What really strikes me is how close Earth appears from Low Earth Orbit. The ISS has a similar orbital altitude to that achieved by JPL/Frank Malina’s WAC Corporal when it was part of the BUMPER WAC. That flight in 1949 has been hailed, rightly in my view, as a landmark achievement – the first human object in extraterrestrial space.
And yet from this perspective, it doesn’t exactly seem like slipping the surly bonds of Earth. One thing is clear, though – no-one can escape the reach of The XX, probably not even on the ISS.