The NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers shared a breathtaking photo of a thunderstorm on Earth taken from space on Tuesday, May 6th, through social media. The awe-inspiring image garnered praise from many internet users.
In March this year, the American space technology exploration company SpaceX collaborated with NASA to initiate an astronaut rotation program using the Falcon 9 rocket. The program involved bringing back American astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who had been on the International Space Station (ISS) for over nine months, and sending four new astronauts to take their place. Among them is the 36-year-old Nichole Ayers.
Since arriving at the International Space Station, Ayers has been sharing glimpses of her work in space on various platforms. Last week, during her first spacewalk with NASA veteran astronaut Anne McClain, she had the privilege of witnessing a large thunderstorm on Earth.
On Thursday, May 1st, as they were completing their spacewalk mission and preparing to return to the airlock, a spectacular lightning show unfolded on Earth below them. Ayers was captivated by this sudden scene, unable to take her eyes off it, not even blinking.
The next day, when Ayers noticed another thunderstorm on Earth, she promptly grabbed her camera inside the space station and captured several striking images of the intense storm through the window of the laboratory.
She uploaded these photos to her platform on Tuesday, accompanied by a caption that said, “From the International Space Station, we can clearly see various weather systems on Earth. These unique natural landscapes truly amazed me, with some phenomena being exceptionally intense that even distracted me during my spacewalk last week!”
Ayers also mentioned that witnessing the lightning phenomena from the perspective of the International Space Station was truly unique, and the colors were mesmerizing!
After the spectacular photos were revealed, many netizens exclaimed, “Incredibly beautiful”, “So astonishing”, “Really cool to see that lightning can have different colors”, “Indescribable beauty”, “These images convey a grand sense of beauty”, “Seeing these colorful thunderstorm landscapes firsthand must be amazing”.