In the midst of Hurricane Milton heading towards central Florida, NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick shared photos and videos of the storm taken from space.
On Tuesday, Dominick posted images and videos of Milton on the social media platform X. These visuals were captured from the window of the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour currently docked at the International Space Station.
Approximately 90 minutes ago, we flew over Hurricane Milton. This is the view from the window of Crew Dragon Endeavour, Dominick wrote.
He expressed, “Looking forward to seeing many sights from this window, which is where I sleep while waiting to undock and prepare to return to Earth.”
Subsequently, Dominick also released a time-lapse video of the hurricane.
The Crew Dragon Endeavour is part of the SpaceX Crew-8 mission. In March of this year, the Crew Dragon spacecraft carried Dominick, NASA astronauts Michael Barratt, Jeanette Epps, and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin to the orbital laboratory.
The Crew-8 mission is nearing its conclusion. Originally scheduled to return to Earth on Monday, Hurricane Milton covered the intended splashdown zone of the Endeavour, causing a delay in its return.
On Monday, Hurricane Milton developed into one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record, with expectations to make landfall late Wednesday or early Thursday. Prior to its impact on the Tampa Bay area of Florida, officials in the United States ordered over one million people to evacuate in advance.
Milton is poised to threaten the densely populated west coast of Florida, which recently endured significant damage from Hurricane Helene in less than two weeks.
According to the National Hurricane Center’s forecast, Tampa and Sarasota areas are expected to experience storm surges of 10-15 feet.
Most of the west coast of Florida has been under mandatory evacuation orders. This marks the first major hurricane to directly impact the Tampa area in over a century.
President Biden and local officials have warned residents to adhere to evacuation orders and listen to alerts.
“If you receive an evacuation order, you should evacuate immediately. Now is the time. You should be out. This is a matter of life and death,” Biden said.
Tampa Mayor Castor cautioned, “Milton is not a paper tiger. If you try to challenge Mother Nature, it will win 100%.”
Castor added, “If you choose to stay in those evacuation areas, you will lose your life.”