Russian Cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin's Images of Earth from the Space Station

The International Space Station is a marvel of engineering, and has also provided an amazing vantage point for photographing our blue marble below. Russian Cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin has some of the most time spent aboard the space station, with over 672 days spent in space.

Over that time he has captured some incredible photos of Earth. Below are some of his collection, showing tropical islands, volcanoes, the winding Amazon, and so many more unique and beautiful perspectives.

We always find that looking at the Earth from above shows us the small fragility of our only home, and how we need to protect it.

Yurchikhin flew five times between 2002 and 2017, first on the Space Shuttle and then on Soyuz, and commanded the station twice. Photography became a serious pursuit somewhere along the way. From 250 miles up, orbiting the planet every 90 minutes, the station passes over every landscape on Earth between the polar circles, and the images below show the range. There are coral atolls in the Pacific, the perfect cone of a snow-capped volcano, a plume of ash from an eruption, the curling meanders of a jungle river, center-pivot farm fields drawn as green circles on the desert, and the Richat Structure in Mauritania, the eroded dome that astronauts call the Eye of the Sahara. A few frames turn the camera the other way, catching a spacewalk, a docked Soyuz and the thin orange line of a sunrise on the edge of the atmosphere.

Via Design You Trust:

Coral atoll photographed from the International Space Station, a bright turquoise lagoon rimmed by reef in dark blue ocean Small green atoll with a lagoon seen from orbit against a dark purple sea Sunrise seen from the International Space Station, a thin orange band of atmosphere against black space Astronaut on a spacewalk outside the space station with Earth's blue horizon below Aerial view from orbit of a river beside a town with round center-pivot farm fields White cloud plume seen from orbit against the blue of the ocean Volcanic eruption photographed from space with an ash plume rising and its shadow on the ground Snow-capped volcanic cone casting a long shadow, seen from the space station Large coral atoll with a pale lagoon and a small dark island, photographed from orbit Row of towering cumulus clouds seen from above beside a solar panel of the space station Meandering river winding through dark green rainforest, photographed from orbit Small atoll with a bright blue lagoon surrounded by scattered clouds, seen from space Glacier-filled mountain valleys and a turquoise lake seen from the space station Sunlit ridges of a mountain range emerging from shadow, photographed from orbit Chain of snow-covered volcanoes lit by low sun, seen from the International Space Station The Richat Structure in Mauritania, the ring-shaped Eye of the Sahara, photographed from orbit Docked Soyuz spacecraft and space station modules with Earth curving below Dozens of circular irrigated fields in the desert seen from orbit Folded orange and grey rock formations photographed from space Green island with a lagoon and surrounding reef seen from the space station Soyuz spacecraft approaching the space station above the blue curve of the Earth