Incredible Images from the ISS (image-gallery)

I had to share this with you guys – it’s a gallery of a selection of pictures that I really liked. These are some of the ones that stood out the most for me out of a spell-binding collection that are posted over at triggerpit:

On September 22, 2010, with the departure of the Expedition 23 crew, Colonel Douglas H. Wheelock assumed command of the International Space Station and the Expedition 25 crew. He is also known as @Astro_Wheels on twitter, where he has been tweeting space photos to his followers since he arrived at the space station.

We thought that we should put some of the space photos together as a tribute to him and the whole ISS crew. The space photos bring breathtaking views from our only off planet Vista point.

The following space photos are all visible on Astro_Wheels’ twitpic account, and we are eternally grateful to him for sharing these space photos with the world. Many have commented directly to him but we want to make it clear Triggerpit does not have any affiliation with Astronaut Wheelock nor NASA. The confusion might have been since all the captions are all his own words as can also be seen on his twitpic account.

To see the full set of all the images, you can either click on the link just below to head over to triggerpit, OR you could check out Doug on twitter and look for his photos. Either way.

(Originally posted HERE)

Isle Juan de Nova In the Mozambique Channel between Madagascar and the African mainland. The beautiful colors rival the amazing places in the Caribbea (11-15-2010)

ISS solar panel with Earth in the background Every moment I get to look out the window at our beautiful planet, my soul just sings!!…”I see skies of blue…and clouds of white…the bright blessed day…” (6-29-2010)

Astronaut working on the outside of ISS Traveling at 17,500 miles per hour (5 miles per second)…we orbit the Earth every 90 minutes, with a sunrise or sunset every 45 minutes. So half of our space walk is in complete darkness. The helmet lights are essential at the work sight. Here I am getting the bail drive lever ready for my arch nemesis…the ‘M3 Ammonia Connector’. The dance begins (8-14-2010)

Patagonia glacier At the southern end of South America lies the jewel of Patagonia. The awe-inspiring beauty of rugged mountains, massive glaciers, fjords, and the open sea collide in a breathtaking display. I have dreams of this place and wonder what it would be like to breathe this air. Pure majesty (8-28-2010)

Italy by night The beauty of Italy, on a clear summer night, stretching out into the Mediterranean Sea. You can see many of the beautiful islands lit up and adorning the coastline including Capri, Sicily, and Malta. The city of Naples and Mt. Vesuvius stand out along the coast. Viva Esperia (8-22-2010)

It was October 23, 2007 at 11:40am EST when I had my first ride to space on Discovery. She’s beautiful… just sad that this will be her last voyage. Looking forward to climbing aboard the flight deck when Discovery arrives at the Space Station in November. (9-23-2010)

Aurora Borealis In the distance on this beautiful night over Europe. The Strait of Dover is pretty clear as is Paris, the City of Lights. A little fog over the western part of England and London. It is incredible to see the lights of the cities and small towns against the backdrop of deep space. I am going to miss this view of our wonderful world… (11-8-2010)

Part of the Great Barrier Reef An explosion of color, motion, and life painted on the canvas of our wonderful world. This is a section of the Great Barrier Reef off the eastern coast of Australia, captured through a 1200mm lens. I think even the great Impressionists would be awestruck with this natural display (8-22-2010)

Sunset It is the season for viewing Polar Mesospheric Clouds, and with our high beta-angle we were able to capture this thin layer of noctilucent clouds at sunset (6-25-2010)