After a bout of mold threatened the crew’s crop of zinnias, Kelly nursed the flowers back to life. He posted a photo of this beautiful bouquet to celebrate Valentine’s Day.
Credit: Scott Kelly/Instagram
What do you do if you’re stuck zooming above the Earth in a space station about the size of a football field for 340 days? You take a lot of pictures.
At least, that’s what astronaut Scott Kelly did — along with growing space lettuce, going on spacewalks to renovate the International Space Station and participating in experiments to test how a year in microgravity affects the human body, of course.
Even with the experiments and maintenance work, though, a year on the space station (which equals about 5,000 trips around the Earth) leaves plenty of time to take some stellar photos — and when Kelly touched down on Earth on March 1, he had posted more than 1,000 pictures to Twitter and Instagram. [One Year in Space: Epic Space Station Mission in Photos ]
Landscapes that look like abstract art, stunning pictures of the Milky Way, and one of the coolest selfies ever taken — pictures like these made Kelly’s social media accounts out of this world, literally.
Take a peek at 12 of our favorites, one for each month Kelly lived on the International Space Station.
After a bout of mold threatened the crew’s crop of zinnias , Kelly nursed the flowers back to life. He posted a photo of this beautiful bouquet to celebrate Valentine’s Day.
As Winter Storm Jonas buried Baltimore, New York City and Washington, D.C., in snow, Kelly sat warm on the ISS and watched the storm roll in.
A view of the Earth from a glass room on the ISS. That little white speck Kelly points to with his toe is the moon.
Look! It’s the moon! By my toe! #YearInSpace pic.twitter.com/RldqQEcXtS
— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) December 26, 2015
Sunrise on the ISS means not only a brilliantly lit up Earth, but also a lit up space station. The glow from the Earth surrounds the whole station in an orange glow.
For an instant before sunrise, the space station glows orange. #GoodMorning from @Space_Station ! #YearInSpace pic.twitter.com/FEXx8Rezg3
— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) November 5, 2015
Kelly snaps one of the coolest selfies ever taken—himself suited up for a spacewalk.
#SpaceWalkSelfie Back on the grid! Great first spacewalk yesterday. Now on to the next one next week. #YearInSpace pic.twitter.com/7qXLiKzaKA
— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) October 29, 2015
Cool blue water of the Bahamas makes this shot look more like abstract art than a picture of the Earth.
The #Bahamas never fails to impress! #YearInSpace pic.twitter.com/VsDZMpMO4e
— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) September 18, 2015
Hurricane Jimena swirls over the Earth, and dwarfs the moon in the distance.
#Jimena in the Pacific is a massive storm. Makes the moon look puny. #YearInSpace pic.twitter.com/MsvkEphQEK
— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) August 30, 2015
The brilliant colors of an aurora light up the Earth.
Another piece of Earth art — beautiful flowing rivers on the U.S. East Coast.
Kelly reminds us all to recycle with this photo of a droplet of his morning coffee, made from his own urine.
Imagine looking down on your house from space. Kelly doesn’t have to, because this photo covers not only his home but also NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
Those gorgeous sunsets you love look even prettier from the ISS, especially with the Soyuz silhouetted in the background.
Day 282. Soyuz silhouette and #sunset colors of our magnificent #Earth . #GoodNight from @space_station ! #YearInSpace pic.twitter.com/OAmkcuv9nD
— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) January 4, 2016
Follow Kasandra Brabaw on Twitter @KassieBrabaw . Follow us @Spacedotcom , Facebook and Google+ . Original article on Space.com .
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