A European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut gave the public a virtual tour of the International Space Station (ISS). NASA, JAXA, Roscosmos, CSA, ESA, and their contractors work together to manage the ISS, the world’s biggest space station in low Earth orbit.
Andreas Mogensen returned to Earth from his six-and-a-half-month stint on the International Space Station in mid-March. He documented his time aboard the station as a member of NASA’s Crew-7 mission by filming inside and sharing it with his social media followers.
Watch: A virtual tour of the International Space Station
Andreas Mogensen, the ESA astronaut, revealed in an extensive post on X (previously Twitter) on April 12 that “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 gave a glimpse into the space station’s front segment. Above it, there was a SpaceX Dragon craft, which transported him to Earth on March 12. The clip shows the 114-by-22-foot Columbus module, which the ESA supplied as a science lab in 2008. Viewers could also see the smaller Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) located across the facility. It is also known as Kibo and was built shortly after Columbus.
Andreas Mogensen demonstrated several more ISS features, including workstations, storage units, bathrooms, exercise equipment, multiple docking nodes, and even the station kitchen, through firsthand observation.
The cupola, which provides an unrivaled 360-degree panoramic view of the Earth as well as an amazing view of the space station’s total size, is without a doubt the most spectacular location on the International Space Station (ISS).