Is there a person left on the internet who hasn’t yet swooned over astronaut Chris Hadfield’s jaw-dropping images from space? Here’s a chance to have them in your home: The former ISS commander has collected some of his photographs into a book.
The Richat Structure in Mauritania. Picture: Chris Hadfield/NASA
Hadfield had been taking photos from the space station since the beginning of his mission, but it was only after he joined Twitter that his celebrity truly skyrocketed. He soon began taking requests via social media on what exactly to document from his unique perspective.
The border between Tijuana (on left) and San Diego. Picture: Chris Hadfield/NASA
While we’ve seen plenty of NASA images of our planet, Hadfield’s instantly feel more personal. These photos were taken by a curious human, not as part of a larger organisational mandate. Hadfield was capturing his photos not necessarily as a scientist, but more as a zero-gravity sightseer on behalf of all civilisation.
In the end, Hadfield returned to Earth with over 45,000 photos, which he managed to narrow to 192 images for the book. You Are Here: Around the World in 92 Minutes is organised geographically, meant to evoke one spin around the planet in the ISS.
If you want to learn more about how exactly he did it, he’s imparted some of his photographic wisdom by explaining how exactly to take great photos from space (for the .00000000003 per cent of us who will ever need to know how). But, for many of us, this fascinating portrait doesn’t need any explanation. This book is really a look at ourselves, and we’ve honestly never looked so good.