The International Space Station completes about 15.5 orbits of Earth every day, giving its crew plenty of opportunities to capture unrivaled photos of the planet below. And on one of its swings around the globe very early Thursday, its commander, Scott Kelly, snapped a photo of Washington from 249 miles up.
Kelly, who called it a “great view”—and he’ll get no argument here— is in the tenth month of his mission as the first US astronaut to spend a complete calendar year in space. He gets plenty of looks down at Washington. This one is a bit clearer than one he took last week, an arresting photo of the massive blizzard that clobbered the East Coast.
Benjamin Freed joined Washingtonian in August 2013 and covers politics, business, and media. He was previously the editor of DCist and has also written for Washington City Paper, the New York Times, the New Republic, Slate, and BuzzFeed. He lives in Adams Morgan.
