Northeastern Asia
This time-lapse video was taken by the Expedition 61 crew on board the International Space Station (ISS) on October 28, 2019 at 21:34:32 to 21:48:40 GMT. This nighttime sequence was taken looking southeast and spans from the southern half of India, across Bangladesh, up to the mountains of China in the east. Flashes of lightning in the beginning highlight the coastline of India and the major city of Bangalore in the center. As the shot sweeps toward the northeast, we see the bright lights of Kolkata and Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. Darkness is prevalent as the ISS flies over the southeast portion of the Tibetan Plateau. The last major city is Xi'an, at the edge of the Qinling Mountains, before light takes over the frame.
Compiled from frames ISS061-E-22294 to ISS061-E-22718
This video was taken by the Expedition 53 crew on board the International Space Station. The sequence of shots were taken on November 5, 2017 from 21:00:44 to 21:31:50 GMT, on a pass from South Africa to the Mongolia-Russia border. Lightning is peppered throughout this pass as the ISS skirts East coast Africa from South Africa to Somalia with an exquisite view of the Gulf of Aden and the Gulf of Oman. The Zagros Mountains swoop along the coastline before the ISS reaches the Western Himalaya and a broad look at “The -Stans.” The clouds get heavier and the lightning subsides as the video comes to a close over the Mongolia-Russia border.
Date posted: 2017/12/14
Compiled from frames ISS053-E-149375 to ISS053-E-151229
This video was taken by the Expedition 46 crew on board the International Space Station. The sequence of shots was taken on January 10, 2016 from 17:23:308 to 17:41:18 GMT, on a pass over East Asia at night. The time lapse begins with the ISS traveling northeast passing over several visible lightning storms occurring over the Indonesian island of Java. Next, ISS continues traveling northeast over Java to mainland Indonesia, passing over the Philippines and its capital city Manila before ending the pass over the Pacific Ocean with the Japanese city Tokyo visible to the west.
Date posted: 2016/05/11
Compiled from frames ISS046-E-7309 to ISS046-E-7854
This video was taken by the crew of Expedition 45 on board the International Space Station. The sequence of shots was taken on September 14, 2015 from 16:58:00 to 17:21:07 GMT, on a pass over eastern Asia at night. This video begins over as the ISS passes over the northern Indian Ocean and toward Sumatera. The pass continues over the South China Sea, where Taiwan and Japan are visible. The video ends when the ISS flies toward the Kamchatka Peninsula.
Date posted: 2015/11/23
Compiled from frames ISS045-E-5122 to ISS045-E-5799
This video was taken by the crew of Expedition 38 on board the International Space Station. The sequence of shots was taken on January 30, 2014 from 13:07:04 to 13:31:39 GMT, on a pass from northeastern Malaysia to the North Pacific Ocean, just south of the Aleutian Islands. This video starts looking northeast toward Bangkok at night and continues to travel northeast toward Hong Kong, then continues toward the Korean Peninsula and Beijing area. Just before the video passes over the black of the Pacific Ocean, the Kamchatka Peninsula can be faintly seen, with few city lights and snow-covered. The video ends looking north/northeast toward the Aleutian Islands.
Date posted: 2014/02/10
NEW- Click here for an annotated version of this video, which explains the geography throughout the time-lapse video.
Compiled from frames ISS038-E-37941 to ISS038-E-38914
This video was taken by the crew of Expedition 34 on board the International Space Station. The sequence of shots was taken on January 3, 2013 from 11:43:46 to 15:49:31 GMT, on a pass from northwestern Australia, making two complete orbits to eastern Quebec, near the Gulf of St. Lawrence. This fast-paced video features the ISS completing two and a half orbits around the Earth, crossing the terminator line several times in the process. The video begins as the ISS is in darkness, and as the moon rises on the left side of the video, the ISS begins to pass over into daylight. Clouds mostly obscure the view during this first daylight pass with the exception of the Caucasus and Elburz Mountains just before the terminator. The ISS slips back into night as the moon again rises in the left side of the video. As the Station flies back into daylight, the ISS flies over Central America, the Caribbean Sea, and Cuba and Florida before flying over the northern Atlantic Ocean. Most of Western Europe is under cloud, and the first land that can be seen is the Alps Mountains and Croatia. The ISS then passes over the terminator line again into darkness as the moon rises in the left side of the video. As the ISS passes back over into daylight, clouds obscure most of the Earth until near the end of the video, when it passes over the Baja Peninsula and the southwestern United States.
Date posted: 2013/01/23
Compiled from frames ISS034-E-16709 to ISS034-E-18545
This video was taken by the crew of Expedition 34 on board the International Space Station. The sequence of shots was taken on January 4, 2013 from 05:23:00 to 05:56:16 GMT, on a pass from the border of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo to just east of Japan. This video begins as the ISS travels northeast over central Africa just after sunrise. As the ISS flies over northeastern Africa, the Nile River can be seen in a zigzag pattern across the rust-colored desert. The ISS then crosses over the Red Sea before flying over the Arabian Peninsula and the Middle East region. The video ends as the ISS travels northeast over the snow-covered areas of western Russia and China.
Date posted: 2013/01/23
NEW- Click here for an annotated version of this video, which explains the geography throughout the time-lapse video.
Compiled from frames ISS034-E-15609 to ISS034-E-16607
This video was taken by the crew of Expedition 31 on board the International Space Station. The sequence of shots was taken from May 6, 2012 from 06:28:09 to 06:41:08 GMT, on a pass from northeastern Kazakhstan to the North Pacific Ocean, east of Japan. This video features the ISS flying over northeastern Asia and over the Pacific Ocean. This pass begins over northeastern Kazakhstan, as the ISS begins traveling east and then southeast over the Baykal Lake in southeastern Russia, along with several smoke plumes from fires in the surrounding areas. The pass continues over cirrus clouds and possible smoke plumes before the ISS travels over northeastern China and ends over the North Pacific Ocean.
Date posted: 2012/08/29
Compiled from frames ISS031-E-74576 to ISS031-E-75332
This video was taken by the crew of Expedition 30 on board the International Space Station. The sequence of shots was taken January 2, 2012 from 05:37:31 to 06:02:03 GMT, on a pass from southern Africa northeast to northern China. This video begins over southern Africa looking west as the ISS travels northeast up the coast. As the ISS continues northeast over the Indian Ocean, the landscape over Africa changes from green to a clay-colored orange sands of the desert. The pass continues looking over the southern half of the Arabian Peninsula and over the Middle Eastern countries of Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. The ISS passes over the snow-covered mountains of the Himalayas and finally over the Tibetan Plateau.
Date posted: 2012/01/27
Compiled from frames ISS030-E-40326 to ISS030-E-40694
This video was taken by the crew of Expedition 30 on board the International Space Station. The sequence of shots was taken January 1, 2012 from 05:23:34 to 05:35:50 GMT, on a pass from north-central China to the North Pacific Ocean, south of the Aleutian Islands. The pass begins looking back from the ISS at the Qilian Mountains and Qinghai Lake. As the ISS continues northeast over the Gobi Desert, heavy cloud and snow cover the ground until far northeastern China. The pass ends looking back at the Sea of Okhotsk and the Kamchatka Peninsula, before crossing over the Terminator line.
Date posted: 2012/01/20
Click here to learn more about the Kamchatka Peninsula.
Compiled from frames ISS030-E-30756 to ISS030-E-30940
This video was taken by the crew of Expedition 30 on board the International Space Station. The sequence of shots was taken January 02, 2012 from 06:04:20 to 06:13:14 GMT, on a pass from central Mongolia to the Sea of Okhotsk, east of Russia. This pass begins looking back from the ISS toward Mongolia and the Mongolian Plateau (most of which is snow-covered). Looking far right of track, Lake Baikal in Russia can be seen under the snow. Continuing northeast toward the Sea of Okhotsk, snow mainly covers the ground, except where mountain peaks show through.
Date posted: 2012/01/17
Compiled from frames ISS030-E-23637 to ISS030-E-23904
This video was taken by the crew of Expedition 30 on board the International Space Station. The sequence of shots was taken January 02, 2012 from 10:56:14 to 11:17:54 GMT, on a pass from northeastern China to the Coral Sea, just east of Australia. The pass begins looking back from the ISS, just northwest of Beijing. As the ISS travels southeast, it passes over Beijing and the Bohai Sea and travels toward Korea (right side of video). On the Korean Peninsula, North Korea's capital city of Pyongyang and South Korea's capital city of Seoul are brightly lit. As the pass continues, the southern half of Japan is seen along with a couple of islands in the South China Sea. The ISS continues traveling southeast over the Philippine Sea toward Australia.
Date posted: 2012/01/17
Compiled from frames ISS030-E-25359 to ISS030-E-25684
This video was taken by the crew of Expedition 29 on board the International Space Station. The sequence of shots was taken October 20, 2011 from 17:48:40 to 18:05:17 GMT, on a descending pass from eastern China to western New Guinea, and rounds out to an ascending pass just as the video ends north of Australia. As the pass begins southeastward towards the South China Sea, the first noticeably-lit area is that of Hong Kong and Macau. The island of Taiwan can also be easily seen left of track. The ISS passes over the South China Sea towards the Philippines, which have some cloud cover and storms. Finally, the pass ends just north of Australia, where the Yorke Peninsula can be seen as a dark, rusty color protruding into the water.
Date posted: 2011/11/01
Compiled from frames ISS029-E-33152 to ISS029-E-33428
This video over Southeastern Asia was taken by the crew of Expedition 29 on board the International Space Station. This sequence of shots was taken October 7, 2011 from 12:41:10 to 12:50:46 GMT, on an ascending pass from the island of Java to northeast of Japan. Clouds fill most of the sky until the island of Japan approaches near the end of the sequence. Tokyo is brightly visible on the eastern-most side of the island.
Date posted: 2011/10/14
Compiled from frames ISS029-E-22131 to ISS029-E-22323
This pass begins over Mongolia, looking out west towards the Pacific Ocean, China, and Japan. As the video progresses, you can see major cities along the coast and the Japanese islands on the Philippine Sea. The island of Guam can be seen further down the pass into the Philippine Sea, and the pass ends just to the east of New Zealand. A lightning storm can be seen as light pulses near the end of the video.
Date posted: 2011/09/22
Compiled from frames ISS028-E-30770 to ISS028-E-31149
