Early this morning, NASA’s Scott J. Kelly shared a photo of Qatar as seen from a space station:
Day 220. A cloud over #Qatar reminds me of the pillow I miss at sleep. #GoodNight from @space_station! #YearInSpace pic.twitter.com/hbBMtL76IT
— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) November 2, 2015
Qatar has been cloudy and a bit rainy this week due to the effects of Hurricane Chapala, which isn’t expected to reach here but has brought sudden strong winds to the area nonetheless.
Kelly, an American astronaut, is currently commander of the International Space Station (ISS) and is on a one-year mission to study the health effects of long-term spaceflight.
He and Russian astronaut Mikhail Korniyenko will spend 342 days in space, as scientists perform medical experiments and conduct other research.
Kelly and Kornienko left earth in March 2015 and will return to earth next spring.
Qatar from space
This isn’t the first time Qatar, which is apparently mulling space travel, has been photographed by NASA from space.
In 2011, astronaut Mike Fossom snapped this shot after colleague Ron Garan stepped out of the International Space Station for a bit of a (space) walk.
Notably, Qatar is that big thumb of land jutting out from the Arabian Peninsula.
And in 2012, the NASA Earth Observatory posted this photo, taken by an astronaut on the ISS.
It puts Doha at the center, with Al Khor and Dhakira on the left (north), and Al Wakrah and Mesaieed to the right (south).
You can also see the camel race track, the Dukhan oil field and in the bottom left, Bahraini capital Manama is glowing almost as brightly as Doha.
Thoughts?
