Astronaut snaps stunning aerial view of Key West from International Space Station

Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata has recently been very busy onboard the International Space Station. Not only has he just done his first space walk, but he’s been using his downtime to head to the cupola viewing dome with his camera. And his images are just stunning.

Take this one of Florida’s Key West. It could almost be an abstract painting. And then there’s the aerial view of the aptly named ‘Eye of the Sahara’.

Wakata’s Twitter feed is currently full of these gorgeous aerial images of our world. He also has some unusual perspectives of the Straits of Gibraltar, Madagascar, and Buenas Aires, Argentina.

Fantastic view of Key West, Florida from the ISS when we flew over about an hour ago! pic.twitter.com/W58qJ2orVa

— 若田光一 WAKATA Koichi (@Astro_Wakata) January 22, 2023

“A beautiful contrast of the land, vegetation, rivers, clouds, and the surrounding ocean!” he says of his image of Madagascar.

Great view of Madagascar from the ISS. Beautiful contrast of the land, vegetation, rivers, clouds, and the surrounding ocean! pic.twitter.com/APIZxBGMCg

— 若田光一 WAKATA Koichi (@Astro_Wakata) January 22, 2023

The ISS astronauts often enjoy their spare time on board by taking images. Us mere mortals on Earth are so privileged to catch a glimpse of what they are viewing. Here at DIYP, we’ve featured images by several of the ISS astronauts in the past, and it’s always fascinating to see this perspective of the Earth.