Incredible Earth Timelapse from the ISS

Photography Tips  •  Time-lapse Photography

Lately, we’ve been served with a decent share of timelapses shot from the International Space Station. As strange as it seems, some of us are getting kind of bored with the incredible images of our planet from space. This proves how insatiable we are; our expectations keep growing bigger and demanding better and more dramatic imagery. But this new timelapse footage from the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, NASA Johnson Space Center and Guillaume JUIN is a bit more special:

The ISS travels at a speed of 28,000 kilometers per hour at an altitude of 350 kilometers from the earth’s surface. That’s faster than anything anyone has ever ridden. This new timelapse was created to capture that incredible feeling of being inside the ISS when it travels at such breathtaking speeds around the globe. It’s a step away from the more sedate slow-speed timelapses we’re used to watching.

Cygnus Orb – 2 being pushed into orbit

Some of the images are really amazing. For example, at 1:11 you can see a refueling shuttle plummeting back to earth and disintegrating upon re-entry. Again at 1:20 you can see the Orbital Science’s Cygnus Orb – 2 being pushed into orbit.

The images used (all 80 GB!) were possible by the astronauts of ISS missions 28 through 31 and 34 and were shot between 2011 and 2014.

A screengrab from the timelapse footage

The sequence was edited using After Effects and Premiere, in which a simple post-processing workflow was used to color grade, reduce noise and dead pixels, and eliminate flickering.

All the technical mumbo-jumbo aside, this footage simply raised our expectations a step higher.