The instrument required the addition of Wi-Fi modules to transmit its data to the station, which in turn required astronauts to conduct a spacewalk to install them. The human crew came in especially handy for the Ecosystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) instrument, which records the temperature of plants on Earth’s surface by measuring the heat they give off.

The ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) is located on the Japanese Experiment Module on the International Space Station. An especially comprehensive suite of Earth observing instruments are currently aboard the station, with two more approved and several more proposing to become future ISS instruments. Instruments go through a rigorous approval process and cycle through every couple of years, turning the station into a virtual swiss-army knife of interchangeable remote sensing tools. However, space aboard the station itself is limited, and the spots are highly coveted. An impressive suite of Earth Science instruments have also visited the station to capture vast amounts of data about our planet. But camera-wielding astronauts are not the only ones looking down at Earth from their perch in the sky. Credit: NASAĪfter 20 years of continuous human presence, the International Space Station (ISS) has provided 241 visitors with an extraordinary view of Earth from outer space - one they have shared with the rest of the world.Īstronaut photography, formally called Crew Earth Observations (CEO), has resulted in more than 3.5 million photographs of the ever-changing blue planet.

The International Space Station has been continuously occupied for two decades, and the astronauts and cosmonauts aboard have taken more than 3.5 million photographs of our home planet from space.

View of earth from space