A European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut has offered the public a virtual tour of the International Space Station (ISS). Five space agencies namely NASA, JAXA, Roscosmos, CSA, ESA, and their contractors work together to manage the ISS, which is the largest space station ever constructed, in low Earth orbit. Andreas Mogensen made his way back to Earth from his six-and-a-half-month stay on ISS in the middle of March. He documented his time at the station as a member of NASA's Crew-7 mission by recording a video inside and showing it to his social media followers.
In an elaborate post that Andreas Mogensen posted on X (formerly Twitter) on April 12, the ESA astronaut revealed, “It's been a month since I left the International Space Station. One of the very last things that I did on undock day, was film a tour of the Space Station. It is as much a keepsake for me as it is a way for me to share the wonder of the International Space Station with you. Whenever I will miss my time onboard ISS, and especially my crewmates, I will have this video to look at.”
Andreas Mogensen first provided a sneak peek into the front section of the space station. Above it, there was a SpaceX Dragon craft, which brought him to Earth on March 12. The roughly 114-by-22-foot Columbus module, which the ESA supplied as a science lab back in 2008 could be spotted in the clip. Viewers could also make out the smaller Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) kept across the lab. Also known as Kibo, it was built soon after the construction of Columbus.
Several more ISS amenities, like the workstations, storage units, restrooms, exercise equipment, several docking nodes, and even the station kitchen, were shown by Andreas Mogensen through first-hand observation. The cupola, which offers an unparalleled 360-degree panorama of the Earth as well as an impressive look at the space station's overall size, is unquestionably the most stunning spot on the entire International Space Station (ISS).
