Astronauts' Spectacular Twitter Pictures From Space (PHOTOS)

In January, NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station sent the first real-time tweets from space. Soon after, Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi (@Astro_Soichi) began tweeting stunning photographs of the view from above back to Earth.

Now that Soichi has returned home, NASA astronaut Douglas Wheelock (@Astro_Wheels) has continued live-tweeting photos from the ISS.

We've collected some of the most breathtaking images tweeted from space in the slideshow below. From Hurricane Earl to a twinkling Manhattan, a shimmering Aurora Borealis to a smoking volcano, the images present a spectacular view of Earth. Take a look and vote for your favorites!

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Aurora Borealis Over North America (May)

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Rank #2  |  Average: 4

So-so Stunning!

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Comments

[StarWarsHippie]

03:50 PM on 10/22/2010

4 is the most amazing photo ever pust the sun and Earth in real perspective but generally I like @Astro_Soichi pictures from space more. Of course he's not in space right now and his picture are stuff from his personal life (award presentations and food mostly)

If I ever win huge lottery amount (which is unlikely as I don't play) I'm going to pay the Russians
to send me to space.

[topkatnc]

05:56 AM on 09/21/2010

What I would give to go up and see for myself ! ...

[TD123]

03:17 AM on 09/21/2010

Dude what type of cawk block!!! I can't compete with this absurdity! OUTRAGE! Friggin astronauts...

[jsarets]

07:25 PM on 09/20/2010

For space fans: 

At 8PM EDT this evening (half an hour from now), Space Shuttle Discovery will be making her final 3.5-mile journey down the crawlerway from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center.  The rollout will be webcast live:

http://www.nasa.gov/55644main_NASATV_Windows.asx

Discovery is tentatively scheduled to launch on November 1 en route to the International Space Station, carrying the final pressurized module for the U.S orbital segment, the Leonardo Pressurized Multipurpose Module (PMM), which will be used as a large "float-in closet".  Leonardo will be berthed to the earth-facing hatch of the Unity Module (Node 1), the first module of the U.S. segment.

This will be Discovery's 39th flight, the most for any Space Shuttle.  Discovery is perhaps best known for delivering the Hubble Space Telescope to orbit and performing the two Return to Flight missions testing new safety equipment and procedures following the Columbia disaster.

Following Discovery's final flight, Endeavor will fly her final flight in February (carrying the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer instrument to the ISS), and Congress has yet to decide whether to authorize Atlantis to fly one last mission in June.

[jsarets]

07:38 PM on 09/20/2010

Discovery has started rolling out ahead of schedule.

[Tobby2k9]

06:50 PM on 09/20/2010

#20 Manhattan, New York I think is the ugliest?

[StarWarsHippie]

03:55 PM on 10/22/2010

"Ah God, what an ugly city every city is!" -- Bokonon

[Tobby2k9]

06:43 PM on 09/20/2010

#7 Moscow looks like a Phoenix.

[favorious]

06:16 PM on 09/20/2010

Great pics. Twitter users love them. You can see all their pictures, ranked by popularity on Favorious: http://fvr.cc/dySNyc (@Astro_Soichi) and http://fvr.cc/9RqswO (@Astro_Wheels)

[LateBoomer2]

04:16 PM on 09/20/2010

Some of these pics (Madagascar and Seychelles) are some psychadelic .... (word deleted for censors :)

[kinogod]

04:04 PM on 09/20/2010

Wow....Iraq looks like neptune, Moscow looks like a spider and Bejing looks like a microchip....all apt comparisons, perhaps even manifestations of the souls of these particular places....

[DrKND]

04:02 PM on 09/20/2010

Fab! Thanks to the astronauts for the pics, and for BEING ASTRONAUTS!

[ReadMyLipstick1]

03:53 PM on 09/20/2010

Magnificant!

[Aripottah]

03:52 PM on 09/20/2010

Some spectacular photographs!

[CAdawn]

03:21 PM on 09/20/2010

Fascinating photos! What is going on in #17-Sand Dunes, Arabian Desert? Really strange. Also, photo #32, the Dead Sea.
Thanks, Soichi & Wheelock for sharing. We need NASA-keep it going.

[Pailface]

03:00 PM on 09/20/2010

Amazing pictures!

I love the space program! I find it rather short sighted to get rid of NASA. Once we stop exploring we've stopped learning.

Thanks to all the astronauts for these pics!

[ThaGovna]

03:15 PM on 09/20/2010

Yep! Fantastic!

[jsarets]

03:45 PM on 09/20/2010

Only a few confused lefties want to get rid of NASA because they believe it diverts money from social welfare programs.  Even most teabaggers tend to see NASA as an instrument of national pride and evangelism.

Many people who closely follow the space program or work in aerospace fields, however, believe that NASA's managerial and contracting practices must be reformed to revitalize the American aerospace industry and refocus our humanitarian pursuit of science and exploration.

NASA shouldn't be developing rockets anymore.  NASA should be developing probes and landers with advanced instrumentation to explore our solar system and regenerative habitation systems to empower human settlement on the Moon and Mars or more sustainable communities here on Earth.

Rockets have become commodities, and NASA is no longer particular skilled at developing them compared to the private sector.  But rockets are high-profile and extremely political.  Congress gets involved, and it usually appears that the Senators from Alabama, Texas, Florida, and Utah don't care what we end up accomplishing in space as long as there's a rocket program in their state.

NASA should focus more on what we're doing in space and less on how we get there.

[Pailface]

05:03 PM on 09/20/2010

Great comment, I totally agree!

[StarWarsHippie]

04:00 PM on 10/22/2010

Not to mention mining the moon for Helium-3 so we can use it for nuclear fusion. Space is our future of humanity this planet can't hold us all and it won't last forever the way we treat it.

[Skyhawk]

02:50 PM on 09/20/2010

A beautiful world we're trashing.