Three ISS crew members (former crew now) are back on Earth. Jeff Williams, Alexey Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka are safely back on Earth. The Soyuz capsule carrying the trio touched down in the flats of Kazakhstan at 9:13 pm ET (7:13 am local time). Here are the sights and sounds from last night’s landing.
Touchdown!
Two different views of Soyuz parachuting to a landing just seconds away from touchdown. https://t.co/C7LVQGQ6Xn pic.twitter.com/gAO5LDOb7y
— Intl. Space Station (@Space_Station) September 7, 2016
Coming in hot.
Atmospheric re-entry of the #Soyuz, from space! Over the Caspian Sea, at the ‘Speed of Heat’! Credit: @Astro_Kate7 pic.twitter.com/MppmknBpCP
— Doug Wheelock (@Astro_Wheels) September 7, 2016
Gravity feels different!
Expedition 48: Jeff Williams, Alexey Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka are back on Earth. Credit: @NASA/@IngallsImages pic.twitter.com/noy2JV6ah6
— Intl. Space Station (@Space_Station) September 7, 2016
With Jeff Williams back on Earth, it got me thinking – who do we need to follow for more incredible pictures of Earth? Here’s the last image Jeff shared before coming back to Earth.
I will certainly miss this view! Vast gratitude toward my crewmates, ground teams, supporting friends, and family. pic.twitter.com/op9vFyWSFT
— Jeff Williams (@Astro_Jeff) September 6, 2016
And here are a few more recent ones.
Prominent clouds cast their long shadows on the horizon. Hi-res here:https://t.co/Q9tguuKrfz pic.twitter.com/AtokhnYuxd
— Jeff Williams (@Astro_Jeff) September 5, 2016
Sail down the Hudson River into New York Harbor, one of the largest natural harbors in the world. pic.twitter.com/B6euMuqHFN
— Jeff Williams (@Astro_Jeff) September 5, 2016
Great way to start your Sunday… setting moon, rolling aurora, and the break of dawn. pic.twitter.com/vDbzruldiE
— Jeff Williams (@Astro_Jeff) September 4, 2016
Need a mental escape from summer heat? Try these frozen volcanoes of Kamchatka. Hi-res here: https://t.co/yoSrzsjQ2e pic.twitter.com/oGdM4Apw8N
— Jeff Williams (@Astro_Jeff) September 3, 2016
Alright, I could look at Jeff’s Twitter account all day. Now, which Twitter accounts do we need to follow to keep views like this coming into our feed?
@NASA_Astronauts – NASA astronaut Kate Rubins tweets via this account. Don’t expect daily stunning images like the ones we saw from Jeff Williams, but it’s still a great account to follow everything going on aboard the ISS.
@Space_Station – This is the verified account for the International Space Station. If you want the definitive account to follow for all things ISS, this is the one. Space walks, beautiful images, science. This account has it all.
@astro_kimbrough – New crew means new Twitter accounts to follow. NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough will head to the ISS along with cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko on September 23rd. Kimbrough says he’s “excited to share NASA and the International Space Station with you!”
@StationCDRKelly – Scott Kelly might be back on Earth, but that’s not stopping him from sharing more fantastic images from his year in space. Keep an eye out for his #ThrowbackThursday posts.
@ingallsimages – If NASA needs a badass image, Bill Ingalls is the man they call. Follow this account to catch ISS crew as they are about to head to space or come back home. Check out his website full of incredible images captured for NASA through the years.
If I’m missing any Twitter accounts, let me know. I’ll be keeping this post updated with any other Twitter accounts I come across.