Astronaut’s tweet pics show earth in all its glory

If you’ve ever wondered what Earth looks like from aboard the International Space Station, then you absolutely must follow the Twitter feed of Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi.

Since his arrival in December, Noguchi has been uploading to Twitpic images of Earth as seen from the space station. So far, Noguchi has posted 28 images detailing such sights as the Golden Gate Bridge, Amazon River (upper right), Tokyo, Haiti, and the clouds above Antarctica.

Earth from space

Earth from space

Noguchi’s first images were of Port-Au-Prince, Haiti after the recent earthquake, but he quickly expanded his photographic subjects to include some striking shots of the world’s treasures. Take, for instance, this shot of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa.

Earth from space

Also posted is this interesting photo of Noctilucent clouds in Antarctica. These clouds are made of water and ice crystals, and are the highest cloud formations in the Earth’s atmosphere.

A native of Yokohama, Japan, Noguchi is a member of Expedition 22, a five-member team currently responsible for running the International Space Station.

Twitter and NASA

Earth from space

Space station astronaut Noguchi may have taken Twitter to new heights (that’s his shot of Aruba Antiles at the left), but he is far from the only spacefaring professional using the microblog.

Last May, American Mike Massimino was the first astronaut ever to send a tweet from space aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis: “From orbit: Launch was awesome!! I am feeling great, working hard, & enjoying the magnificent views, the adventure of a lifetime has begun!

However, Massimino’s tweet had to be e-mailed to NASA ground personnel who then posted the message to his account. The first live tweet sent directly from outer space to Twitter occurred in January when Arizona native T.J. Creamer sent the following tweet from the ISS: “Hello Twitterverse! We r now LIVE tweeting from the International Space Station — the 1st live tweet from Space! đŸ™‚ More soon, send your ?s”

Creamer’s request to send questions refers to NASA’s scheduled Q&A with astronauts on board the ISS on February 11. Anyone interested in submitting a question for the astronauts can send it to astronaut Mike Massimino’s Twitter account (@Astro_Mike) until Thursday at 2:24 a.m. Central Time. Massimino will select the best questions and send them to the astronauts. You will be able to watch the Q&A on February 11 online at NASA television.

More Tweets from Space

Earth from space

If you can’t get enough space in your life, here’s a short list of interesting NASA-related social media feeds to follow (along with Noguchi’s shot of Pico de Orizaba, Mexico):

Expedition 22 Flickr Feed
Expedition 22 Home Page
Soichi Noguchi on Twitter
Soichi Noguchi on Twitpic

T.J. Creamer on Twitter
Mike Massimino on Twitter
Jeff Williams on Twitter (Expedition 22 Commander)
NASA Astronauts Twitter feed (aggregates Astronaut tweets)

Ian hasn’t been to space, but you can still connect with him on Twitter (@ianpaul).

Source: PCworld.com

Would you recommend this article?

Share

Thanks for taking the time to let us know what you think of this article!
We'd love to hear your opinion about this or any other story you read in our publication.


Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

Featured Download

Featured Story

How the CTO can Maintain Cloud Momentum Across the Enterprise

Embracing cloud is easy for some individuals. But embedding widespread cloud adoption at the enterprise level is...

Related Tech News

Get ITBusiness Delivered

Our experienced team of journalists brings you engaging content targeted to IT professionals and line-of-business executives delivered directly to your inbox.

Featured Tech Jobs