I found today’s new thing accidentally whilst browsing YouTube and knew then and there that I’d be cancelling whatever else I had planned – when you see “NASA Live Stream – Earth From Space” it’s hard not to click the play button!
In a year where everything is upside down and we’ve all been stuck inside and unable to travel, the allure of escaping that for a while, even virtually, is a strong one. It’s the same reason why I enjoyed the view from other people’s windows (not in a creepy way) and loved listening to the local radio stations from around the world, it’s nice to virtually travel outside of my four walls for a while and this live stream is definitely the furthest I’ve travelled!
I wasn’t convinced at first that it was really live footage from the space station. The channel wasn’t an official NASA one, and I wanted some more information before I fully committed. However, a bit of googling provided me with an official NASA page with exactly the same video feed so I knew it was the real deal. I followed the International Space Station as it passed over the snow-covered Rocky Mountains in America, and watched as it made its way across the increasingly darker Atlantic. The feed stopped as soon as it hit the half of the Earth in darkness and would pick up again 45 minutes later when it crossed back into daylight.
I found this fascinating to watch. It was reminiscent of being on a plane and watching cities and countries drift by as you fly to your destination. I found it incredibly relaxing and as silly as it sounds, quite reassuring to know that the rest of the world was still there and doing ok. I highly recommend this if you want to mentally check out for a little while and get a reminder of what the Earth looks like from the sky!
New Day, New Thing 