Astronaut Terry W. Virts made the most of his last day in space.
Before boarding a Soyuz space capsule to return to Earth on Thursday (June 11), Virts snapped these awesome photos of the Great Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, Mount Ararat in Turkey and the partially frozen Hala Lake of the Chidamu Basin in China. He shared the images on Twitter.
It took me until my last day in space to get a good picture of these! pic.twitter.com/BChtFZBvk7
— Terry W. Virts (@AstroTerry) June 10, 2015
Mt Ararat, #Turkey. pic.twitter.com/lVzEXsIkgG
— Terry W. Virts (@AstroTerry) June 10, 2015
Still partially frozen Hala Lake #China. One of the big salt lakes in the Chaidamu Basin. pic.twitter.com/uCP3obEU8I
— Terry W. Virts (@AstroTerry) June 10, 2015
The International Space Station orbits Earth at a racing speed of 27,600 kilometers per hour (17,150 miles per hour). This gives Virts only a short window to locate landmarks and take these impressively vibrant shots.
Virts, along with crewmates Anton Shkaplerov and Samantha Cristoforetti, launched to the space station in late November 2014, serving first with the ISS's Expedition 42 crew. They remained aboard to also form part of the Expedition 43 crew.
Virts posted a photo of the capsule that would be transporting Shkaplerov, Cristoforetti and himself back to terra firma.
My ride back to Earth today. pic.twitter.com/31hqjY4Vve
— Terry W. Virts (@AstroTerry) June 11, 2015
The last picture I took on this mission. pic.twitter.com/8KqTd8yMOR
— Terry W. Virts (@AstroTerry) June 11, 2015
[H/T CNET]
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