Earth Viewed from Space in This Astronaut’s Stunning Pictures

Catch a glimpse of an astronaut’s world.

Thomas Pesquet is a French aerospace engineer, pilot and an European space agency astronaut. He has been a part of the International Space Station for Expedition 50 and 51 since November 2016. The astronaut has been posting beautiful pictures of space and how Earth looks from his vantage point on his Instagram account.

From pictures of dunes to the white sands of the Bahamas, to the beautiful cities of Florida and Paris, check out this astronaut’s Instagram account to truly grasp the enormity and wonder of our planet.

Here are a few of his unique clicks.

The coasts of Syria. To think that such a beautiful landscape is the scene of so many atrocities / The coasts of Syria. To think that such a beautiful landscape is the scene of so many atrocities #ESA #astronaut #view #syria #earth #earthpics #earthphotography #earthfromabove #earthfromspace #space #instaspace #ISS #expedition51 #mission #proxima

A post shared by Thomas Pesquet (@thom_astro) on Apr 12, 2017 at 3:06am PDT

56 years ago Gagarin was the first to go to space. Since then, we've never stopped to explore! Happy Yuri's night everyone! / L'héritier du Vostok veille sur vos nuits... Passage incognito au-dessus de l'Europe: la nuit est si claire qu'on voit les nuages ✨ #ESA #astronaut #view #night #europe #earth #earthpics #earthphotography #earthfromabove #earthfromspace #space #instaspace #ISS #expedition51 #mission #proxima

A post shared by Thomas Pesquet (@thom_astro) on Apr 12, 2017 at 12:29pm PDT

St. Brieuc in Brittany.. What I would give for a galette with cidre! / Les Côtes-d'Armor avec Saint Brieuc... Oui la Normandie a bien inventé le cidre, mais les Bretons ont la galette ;) 🇫🇷 #ESA #astronaut #view #saintbrieuc #britanny #france #europe #earth #earthpics #earthphotography #earthfromabove #earthfromspace #space #instaspace #ISS #expedition51 #mission #proxima

A post shared by Thomas Pesquet (@thom_astro) on Apr 12, 2017 at 12:41am PDT

A spectacular airport: you tell me where it is. Hint: it’s in Africa or the Middle East / Un aéroport spectaculaire, le rêve pour un pilote! À vous de me dire où il se trouve - Indice : Afrique ou Moyen-Orient… ✈️ #ESA #astronaut #pilot #avgeek #airport #view #earth #earthpics #earthphotography #earthfromabove #earthfromspace #space #instaspace #ISS #expedition51 #mission #proxima

A post shared by Thomas Pesquet (@thom_astro) on Apr 11, 2017 at 5:12am PDT

Shane, Sergei and Andrei before closing the hatch to the Soyuz spacecraft this morning. Glad to hear they made it back to Earth safely! Andreï, Shane et Sergeï viennent d'atterrir ! Une photo prise ce matin quelques instants avant la fermeture de l'écoutille de leur Soyouz #home @iss #internationalspacestation #Expedition50 @roscosmosofficial @nasa @astro_kimbrough #byebye #safetravels

A post shared by Thomas Pesquet (@thom_astro) on Apr 10, 2017 at 5:56am PDT

Silhouettes of the Progress and Soyuz spacecraft that are currently docked with the @iss as they fly over Europe. Tomorrow @astro_kimbrough, Andrei and Sergei will leave with the latter back to Earth, strange to think that in less than 4 hours after saying goodbye they will be standing up at their landing site Kazakhstan. Godspeed, I will miss them, but looking forward to welcoming Jack and Fyodor next week when they arrive! / Les silhouettes des vaisseaux Progress et Soyouz se détachent sur le tapis de lumières de l’Europe. @astro_kimbrough, Sergeï et Andreï vont retourner sur Terre demain avec un Soyouz. Étrange de se dire qu’à peine 4 heures après leur avoir dit au revoir, ils seront debout les pieds sur la terre ferme des steppes kazakhes… Ils vont nous manquer et nous avons hâte d’accueillir bientôt leur relève à bord! #ESA #astronaut #night #view #earth #earthpics #earthphotography #earthfromabove #earthfromspace #space #instaspace #ISS #expedition51 #mission #proxima

A post shared by Thomas Pesquet (@thom_astro) on Apr 9, 2017 at 2:32pm PDT

Hi Florida! Your shape stands out against the dark… @astro_kimbrough has lots of family and friends there / La Floride et ses contours saillants semblent jaillir dans l’obscurité, devant une aurore boréale au N et le lever du soleil à l’E… 🇺🇸 #ESA #astronaut #view #night #florida #usa #earth #earthpics #earthphotography #earthfromabove #earthfromspace #space #instaspace #ISS #expedition51 #mission #proxima

A post shared by Thomas Pesquet (@thom_astro) on Apr 9, 2017 at 1:05pm PDT

Paris, I miss you! Fun to retrace streets & the town's main features: Rungis, Orly Airport... tomorrow thousands will run the marathon down there! / Paris, on ne peut pas s’en lasser! On reconstitue facilement les rues mais aussi Rungis, Orly… Demain la ville bruissera pour le marathon 🇫🇷 🏃‍♀️#ESA #astronaut #view #night #city #paris #france #europe #earth #earthpics #earthphotography #earthfromabove #earthfromspace #space #instaspace #ISS #expedition50 #mission #proxima

A post shared by Thomas Pesquet (@thom_astro) on Apr 8, 2017 at 12:30pm PDT

In the right lighting clouds can really show their three dimensions. Better to fly above than below! / Les nuages dessinent parfois de drôles de reliefs en trois dimensions. Il vaut toujours mieux voler au-dessus que dessous! ☁️ #ESA #astronaut #view #weather #clouds #sky #space #instaspace #ISS #expedition50 #mission #proxima

A post shared by Thomas Pesquet (@thom_astro) on Apr 8, 2017 at 5:25am PDT

Europe at night is one of the most spectacular views. Here we were travelling along the Adriatic towards the Middle East L’Europe la nuit offre l’une des vues les plus spectaculaires qui soient. Ici nous longions l’Adriatique en direction du Moyen-Orient #Europe #citiesatnight #aurora #Expedition50 #space @iss @europeanspaceagency #fridaynight

A post shared by Thomas Pesquet (@thom_astro) on Apr 7, 2017 at 12:44pm PDT

Peggy working on the Microgravity Science Glovebox again – she gets to stay up here another three months! Recently she has been working on Expanded Stem Cells mentioned before and Heart Cells study that is looking at the human heart cells and how they change in space to help understand heart diseases and avoiding ailments in future missions in our Solar System. La boîte à gants européenne du laboratoire Destiny, le retour : Peggy Whitson a entre autres travaillé sur des cellules de... cœur humain ! Cette recherche permet de mieux comprendre ce qu'il se passe avec certaines maladies cardiaques. #science #Proxima #stemcell @iss @nasa @europeanspaceagency #Expedition50 #heart #worldhealthday

A post shared by Thomas Pesquet (@thom_astro) on Apr 7, 2017 at 6:34am PDT

An airport from space birthday special for my friend @astro_timpeake : London Heathrow Airport. Do they still have your giant picture on the wall? Have a cup of tea on me mate ;) Un aeroport spécial en l’honneur de Tim Peake pour son anniversaire: Londres-Heathrow LHR/EGLL! Heathrow Airport #airportsfromspace #airport #Heathrow #London #avgeek #space @europeanspaceagency #Expedition50 #Proxima

A post shared by Thomas Pesquet (@thom_astro) on Apr 7, 2017 at 12:13am PDT

Lots of auroras recently. This one was dancing over northern USA and Canada / Beaucoup d’aurores boréales en ce moment – on ne va pas s’en plaindre! Celle-ci dansait au-dessus du Canada et du nord des États-Unis #ESA #astronaut #view #night #aurora #space #instaspace #ISS #expedition50 #mission #proxima

A post shared by Thomas Pesquet (@thom_astro) on Apr 5, 2017 at 2:34pm PDT

I need more Cupola time! Waving to Oleg during robotics operations. We love to hang out here once in a while (and it is European-built)! / Quand Oleg a pris la photo j’étais aux commandes du bras robotique dans la Cupola - un de nos endroits préférés (et #madeinEurope!) 🇪🇺 #ESA #astronaut #space #instaspace #ISS #cupola #expedition50 #mission #proxima

A post shared by Thomas Pesquet (@thom_astro) on Apr 5, 2017 at 4:29am PDT

A part of the world that shines bright... but where? A lake in the centre of the picture and nice coastlines should help you get situated! / Une région qui resplendit la nuit, mais où? Indice: côtes réputées pour leur douceur de vivre, chaîne de montagne dans la pénombre… #ESA #astronaut #view #night #earth #earthpics #earthphotography #earthfromabove #earthfromspace #space #instaspace #ISS #expedition50 #mission #proxima

A post shared by Thomas Pesquet (@thom_astro) on Apr 4, 2017 at 12:49pm PDT

ISS at night: pink lights = vegetable growth experiments, neon stickers = emergency egress path, green LEDs = electronic systems / L’#ISS la nuit: lumière rose (serres), stickers fluorescents (chemins à suivre en cas d’urgence), LED vertes (systèmes électroniques)... #iss #spacestation #nightlights #proxima #mission #expedition50 @iss

A post shared by Thomas Pesquet (@thom_astro) on Mar 31, 2017 at 1:43pm PDT

Peggy during her record-breaking spacewalk! / Peggy en train de battre 2 records à la fois pour une astronaute! #ESA #astronaut #spacewalk #space #instaspace #ISS #expedition50 #mission #proxima

A post shared by Thomas Pesquet (@thom_astro) on Mar 31, 2017 at 2:44am PDT

Another long exposure picture: Our vehicles are unmoved by the passing city lights and star trails / Une autre photo à exposition longue : les lumières des villes qui défilent et la pluie d’étoiles laissent nos véhicules impassibles... #ESA #astronaut #view #photography #longexposure #space #instaspace #ISS #expedition50 #mission #proxima

A post shared by Thomas Pesquet (@thom_astro) on Mar 26, 2017 at 11:50am PDT

@astro_kimbrough had a better view most of the time… but we saw each other only twice: at the beginning and at the end! / @astro_kimbrough avait une meilleure vue que moi la plupart du temps… mais nous ne nous sommes vus que 2 fois: au début et à la fin! #ESA #astronaut #spacewalk #EVA40 #teamwork #crew #ISS #mission #proxima

A post shared by Thomas Pesquet (@thom_astro) on Mar 25, 2017 at 6:42am PDT

You can follow him on Instagram for more pictures.