Because it's cool.
Still images taken by ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti on the International Space Station were joined together to create this timelapse.
The launch of STS-134, which was the penultimate mission of NASA's Space Shuttle program and the 25th and last spaceflight of Space Shuttle Endeavour.
Scott Kelly, on the ISS.
The Endeavor.
Milky Way over Utah.
All systems go.
Nippy on Pluto.
When I was little we used to say that if you tried to imagine the edge of space, and thought too much about it, you'd go crazy. Sometimes I used to sit there and really try so hard to imagine what was just beyond the edge of space, and I couldn't, of course, it was just...completely beyond my comprehension. Then I'd really quickly stop thinking about it because I was sure I was about to go off the deep end.
Sometimes I still feel that way. Watching Gravity, and this, and trying to imagine what it must be like to be floating above the world, look one way, the universe; look the other way, a small blue and green sphere we call home. It's completely, and utterly bonkers. Beautiful, but bonkers.
Most excellent.
A revised version of David Bowie's Space Oddity, recorded by Commander Chris Hadfield on board the International Space Station.
