A setting last quarter crescent moon and the thin line of Earth's atmosphere are photographed by an Expedition 24 crew member as the International Space Station passes over central Asia in this 2010 NASA handout photo.
Late summer plankton blooms across much of Lake Ontario, one of North America's Great Lakes, in this photograph taken by an astronaut on the International Space Station courtesy of NASA. Microscopic cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, can reach such large concentrations and color the water to such an extent that the change is visible from orbit.
North Korea (the dark area) and South Korea at night are seen in an undated NASA handout picture from the International Space Station. The clarity of the night image is possible thanks to the European Space Agency's NightPod, installed on the station in 2012, according to a NASA news release. It incorporates a motorized tripod that compensates for the station's speed of approximately 17,500 mph and the motion of the Earth below.
NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly captured an aurora from the International Space Station in this NASA handout photo taken on June 23, 2015.
The continent of Australia is shown in this handout photo taken from the International Space Station by astronaut Scott Kelly and provided by NASA on April 6, 2015. Kelly and Russian Federal Space Agency cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko began their one-year mission aboard the space station on March 27, 2015.
Typhoon Maysak is seen as it strengthens into a Category 5 hurricane in this picture taken by ESA Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti aboard the International Space Station March 31, 2015.
The big island of Hawaii is seen in this image taken by European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti from the International Space Station Feb. 28, 2015. Astronauts have used hand-held cameras to photograph the Earth for more than 40 years, beginning with the Mercury missions in the early 1960's. The ISS maintains an altitude between 220 to 286 miles above the Earth, providing an excellent stage for observing most populated areas of the world
Bushfires in Australia are pictured in this Jan. 2, 2013 handout photo taken by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield aboard the International Space Station.
The Aurora Australis is seen from an image taken by the crew of Expedition 29 on board the International Space Station, on an ascending pass from south of Australia in the Southern Pacific Ocean to the Northern Pacific Ocean, west of Central America Sept. 18, 2011.
This NASA undated handout image of the moon was photographed by the Expedition 28 crew aboard the International Space Station. The Earth transitions into the orange-colored troposphere, the lowest and most dense portion of the Earth's atmosphere. The troposphere ends abruptly at the tropopause, which appears in the image as the sharp boundary between the orange and blue colored atmosphere. The silvery-blue noctilucent clouds extend far above the Earth's troposphere.
The dancing lights of the aurora borealis are shown as the sun emerges from behind the earth in this photo taken Aug. 15, 2015 by astronaut Scott Kelly from the International Space Station.
Tropical Storm Bill in the Gulf of Mexico is seen approaching the coast of Texas in this picture from NASA astronaut Scott Kelly on the International Space Station taken June 15, 2015.
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