Coming Back Down To Our Fragile Oasis
Nov. 21, 2011
Saying goodbye to our friends and our home on the International Space Station was bittersweet after nearly six months in space. Although Andrey Borisenko, Alexander Samokutyaev and I were eager to return to our beautiful Earth, we wanted to savor our last moments as we took a couple of laps around our Fragile Oasis before coming back down. Today, November 21, 2011, we look forward to welcoming our crewmates Mike Fossum, Sergei Volkov and Satoshi Furukawa as they come “Down to Earth” after their half year onboard the International Space Station. God Speed & Welcome Home Guys! Thank you Peter Gabriel for allowing your music to accompany all of us. Perfect!
About This Video
Time-lapse video like this one is about as close as we can come to show what astronauts see in space. Here’s how this came about.
About six weeks before my return to Earth from the International Space Station, I received an Email from Katrina Willoughby, who is one of our photography instructors. She suggested giving time-lapse photography a try. I hadn’t tried time-lapse yet because I overestimated how hard it would be to capture great images, and the time-lapse photography I had seen to date didn’t seem as impressive as the still imagery we had been taking with some of the new equipment onboard.
A day or two after receiving Katrina’s email, I set up a Nikon D3S camera in the cupola (our windowed observatory onboard the ISS). I took some practice shots, playing with the camera settings until things looked about right. I then set up the camera to take about 500 pictures at 3-second intervals (more details about the camera settings are below). When I saw the results, I was so excited that I couldn’t sleep!
I quickly loaded the pictures on the computer in my crew quarters and stitched together a time-lapse video. As I was doing this, Peter Gabriel’s song “Down to Earth” popped into my head, and I threw the first part of the audio track on to the video. (Peter’s music was on my playlist).
I posted the video to my blog on August 26th - "Sneak Peek From Space". It is this sequence - Europe to the Indian Ocean - that opens the time lapse part of the video embedded here at 1:06.
The next morning, I gathered my crewmates together and played the time-lapse video while explaining how simple it was to stitch it all together. All of my crewmates experimented with this medium to capture the space experience, especially Mike Fossum, who has since elevated time-lapse photography from space to an art form. All the sequences for this video were shot by either Mike or me.
Although the International Space Station travels at 17,500mph, orbiting the Earth every 90 minutes, time-lapse photography speeds up our apparent motion considerably.
The flashes of light you see throughout the video is lightning captured by the individual frames of the photography. Yet, only a small percentage of the actual lightning is captured in the imagery. While the video is sped up, I think it still accurately captures the paparazzi-look of lightening storms as we see them from space.
While still onboard the ISS, Peter Gabriel and I brainstormed some ideas for using this type of imagery to help tell the Fragile Oasis story. The possibilities are truly exciting, and I can’t wait to see where this leads. I hope it will help people follow our missions not as spectators, but as fellow crewmembers, inspired to help improve life on our planet.
Camera Information
Night sequences were shot exclusively using the Nikon D3s, usually with a wide angle lens. The camera was set up to take pictures, commonly at three second intervals, generally resulting in a fairly “smooth” video.
Both focus and exposure were set manually. When the camera was allowed to expose automatically, it would change the exposure between shots, resulting in uneven lighting through the video. ISO would be set near 10000 or higher. Shutter speeds were as low as 1 second, but often longer. Aperture was wide open. For the 17-35mm lens this was f/2.8.
Day sequences were shot with either the D3S or the D2XS. Wide-angle lenses were normally used. The Nikon 17-35mm lens was often used near the wide end, such as 17mm. This showed the curvature of the Earth.
“Downside Up Down Under”
Mike Fossum took this picture of me preparing to take some time-lapse photography from the International Space Station cupola as we traveled over coastal Australia, giving new meaning to the Peter Garbriel song, "Downside Up". The instrumental version opens and closes this video.
With sincere thanks:
"Downside Up"
Written by Peter Gabriel
Performed by Peter Gabriel (feat: Melanie Gabriel)
(P) 2011 Peter Gabriel Ltd
Published by Real World Music Ltd.
Courtesy of petergabriel.com
“Down To Earth”
Performed by Peter Gabriel
Music by Peter Gabriel & Thomas Newman / Lyrics by Peter Gabriel
Published by: Wonderland Music Company, Inc. (BMI)/Pixar Music (BMI)
L.A. sessions Produced by Thomas Newman
Produced by Peter Gabriel
Recorded by Richard Chappell
Mixed by Tchad Blake
(P) 2008 Walt Disney Records/Pixar
Courtesy of Walt Disney Records
Other posts by this author
- To Be Continued ...
- One Young World Summit - The Key Is We
- Moonshot
- Why Should We Spend Money on Space Exploration When We Have So Many Problems Here on Earth?
- Guardians of Earth
- Do 1 Thing Day - July 20, 2012
- The Orbital Perspective of Nicholas Kristof
- An Invitation to Participate in the International Space Apps Challenge
- LAUNCHing Ideas for a Waste-less Tomorrow
- We Get to Carry Each Other
Nov. 21, 2011
Elyse David
This is so down to earth!
Nov. 21, 2011
beth b.
I'm blown away by the pic of Ron taken my Mike Fossum. The time lapse is the best story we could ever tell of space from the point of view our astronauts provide. The Peter Gabriel song is perfect. Bravo Ron, Mike, Dillon at NASA and Elyse! Wow!
Nov. 21, 2011
Ryan K.
This video is fantastic! It's rare that we get to see such a stellar collection of videos that show us the stars, aurora, lightning, and the fragility of our home planet all in one system. Great work and thank you!
Nov. 21, 2011
James M.
Ride of a life time but I think I'd like a water landing with the parachutes better.
Nov. 21, 2011
James M.
The last scene is my favorite.
Nov. 21, 2011
Dave M.
What an amazing video, Ron! Truly breathtaking! If you ever give up the space career, you'd make a great pop video maker! ;-) I never tire of seeing just how beautiful our precious, Blue Planet is from space. Thank you to all the bloggers for making this such a special place, and welcome home Mike, Sergei and Satoshi!
Nov. 21, 2011
Karen C.
This is just made of awesome. Thank you for sharing with us. I've watched it about a dozen times today, and it brings a tear to my eye each time. Thank you so much!
Nov. 21, 2011
sweetgazer 1.
Ron, you have a lot of good ideas but this must be about one of the best! Me too, I have watched the video repeatedly. Tomorrow, I'm attending an astronomy lecture at my club and I'll try to persuade the organizer to show it on the big screen of the theatre (OMG!). It will be a matter of turning our heads from the stars to our fragile oasis for just a few minutes. In time, thanks so much for including Brazil in the sequence even though briefly as the imaginary Soyuz dashes over and accross the country toward the Atlantic. As for the picture of you in the cupola, I've commented before, it is simply mindblowing!
Nov. 22, 2011
Vicki S.
Just stunning. The visuals with the music was so perfect. Thank you for doing this.
Nov. 22, 2011
Ron G.
Thanks to everyone for the kind words. It was fun working with a great team to put the video together. I hope everyone shares the video so as many people as possible can see what our beautiful planet looks like from space.
Nov. 22, 2011
D.M.J. M.
This has been trending around the web on many sites I frequent, you have been truly visionary in your integration of public online activities and space adventures, good sir. I cannot thank you enough and you should know that you have done a wonderful service for me and other young (and young at heart) space enthusiasts around the globe giving people a way to come together and a source of unique perspective. Truly great work, inspirational, thanks again !
Nov. 23, 2011
Ernie B.
Ron, thank you (and all involved) for this great opportunity to experience a glimpse of the awesome views afforded from the ISS! As extremely moving as the perspectives are adding the Peter Gabriel music just put it over the top. I'm off for another view or three! Good job!
Nov. 25, 2011
Buenas noches. ¿La Tierra es redonda o en forma de huevo?. Sigo con la duda de Colón y su parentela. Espero que todo bien. Esperando para la Fiesta Universal de la Pizza. ¿Cuándo haremos la fiesta?
Dec. 1, 2011
Johnathon H.
Amazing I felt like i was in space
Dec. 7, 2011
Paul M.
Ron, thanks for your wonderful insights. Could you clarify whether the nighttime shots resemble what you saw with you eye from space? From your post about your camera settings, it seems the light from cities may be greatly exaggerated in your timelapse -- due to lengthy exposures and open lense settings -- and may leave people with the wrong impression about what earth looks like from space. Thank you.
Paul Miller
Dec. 8, 2011
Ron G.
Paul, Great question. In my opinion, time lapse photography like this is the closest we have been able to date to show what the Earth looks like from space. Having said that, there are some differences. First of all the apparent motion around the Earth is sped up considerably. Actually the Earth gently floats by as we orbit and does not appear as the quick and sometimes jumpy motion of time lapse. Also the night views are much darker in reality. Although the city lights look fairly accurate, the details on the ground that we can see are much less than is visible in these long exposure time lapse sequences. For instance I don’t believe it’s possible to make out the turquoise color of the Caribbean in the dark of the night with the naked eye but that color stands out in this time-lapse. The flashes of light you see in these sequences I feel are fairly representative of lightening storms at night. Although the motion is sped up, only a portion of the actual lightening flashes are captured. In the end it works out fairly accurately. Lastly, I would say you can actually see a great deal more stars with the naked eye at night once your eyes adjust to the darkness. Thanks for asking, Ron
Jan. 10, 2012
Christoph M.
Hello Ron,
there is a new Filter technology for the AFS 14-24/2.8 you have been using with the D3s in the ISS. It may help solve some of the exposure problems you have been experiencing. See my separate mail (to Webmaster (at) fragileoasis.com). sincerely