International Space Station – Video filmed by NASA astronaut Anil Menon shows a time-lapse of Earth at night, with city lights streaking below a thin glowing horizon.

Bright blue patches move across dark ocean areas, while a purple flash of lightning appears among the storms. Solar arrays pass through the frame as the Milky Way rises over the curve of Earth.

Menon said he filmed the sequence through the SpaceX Dragon forward window using three-second exposures that were later stitched into a time-lapse.

He identified the blue patches as squid-boat lights, alongside city lights, storms, stars and galaxies.

Menon launched on Soyuz MS-29 from Baikonur on July 14, 2026, with Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina. He is on a planned eight-month stay.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download