WinEarth Blog

see Earth as the astronauts see it


by Leave a comment

CASIS Extends Support for Space Station Academy

Featured image

Oct 1, 2014 – The Center for Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) announced that it will extend its financial and operational support for the Space Station Academy, to help middle school students learn how to work with astronaut photos of Earth.  These images have such rich power to support learning in science, geography and related STEM fields.

Space Station Academy (SSA) is a web site and online educational course that takes students on simulated missions to the International Space Station. They experience life on ISS, learn how to do Earth observations, and gain a fresh perspective on home planet Earth.  SSA is being developed by The Virtual High School, an educational non-profit serving students throughout the world.  SSA is directly affiliated with Windows on Earth, and uses the same images and tools available on Windows on Earth.

CASIS is a NASA-funded non-profit that manages science research and education on the International Space Station. CASIS gave seed money for the Windows on Earth project, and is now providing matching funds and technical support to the Space Station Academy.

Click here to learn more about Space Station Academy.


by Leave a comment

Astronaut movies show night lights, storms and stars

Featured image

Oct 1, 2014 — Over the past few weeks, Astronauts on the ISS have taken dozens of movies, mostly at night. They fix mount the camera in the Cupola window, set the timer, and let ‘er rip.  And now we’ve posted them here for you to enjoy!

One movie shows the stars rotating brightly above the Earth.  Another shows lightning storms flashing below.  And its always fascinating to see the night lights of cities, each telling its own stories and settlement patterns.

Remember, it takes 92 minutes to orbit the Earth, 46 minutes in day light, 46 minutes at night.  So when we say “at night”, we mean one of these 46 minute night time passes.

The movie clips are accelerated about 10 times.

We’ll keep on adding movies, so keep on coming back to our movie gallery.


by Leave a comment

Astronaut Tom Jones highlights his favs


Smiling Tom Jones in Space

Astronaut Tom Jones, veteran of 4 shuttle missions, has selected some of favorite images. They range from stark glaciers, to forest fires, spectacular aurora and a dramatic hurricane. Tom has combined the scientific description with his own reflections on the emotional power of this view of Earth.

On photographing Mt Everest: “I learned before my first flight how to find Everest from space: follow the left branch of the V-shaped valley at lower right center, and it leads one straight to Everest. I once woke up at “3 am” ship’s time, using my watch alarm, to make sure I spotted Everest after leaving the Space Station–the view is that spectacular.”

Flying over aurora: “My Endeavour crew was awed by our night-time flights through the shifting curtains of the Aurora Australis, off the southern coasts of Australia and New Zealand. We felt like we were riding on the tip of a needle, piercing the vertical curtains of glowing green light.”

Perusing Chesapeake Bay: “This is my stomping grounds, the region where I grew up, and I can see my entire youthful experience in this single photo, from the Appalachians to the Atlantic Coast.

Tom did a lot of work in space, but seeing Earth was a very special experience.

Click here to see more of Tom Jones’ favs!