01:10Russian cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov was seen viewing the Earth from his 400km-high vantage point on the International Space Station (ISS), and dispelled some common misconceptions about its appearance.
The exclusive footage filmed on Sunday, February 18, also shows a view of the Earth's surface and atmosphere from the porthole on the ISS.
"The Earth is not completely spherical - it is slightly squashed at the poles. The heights of the continents are different. The shape of the Earth's surface is also distorted by tidal deformations, so it is more correct to say that our planet is a rotational ellipsoid or geoid, which translates from Greek as 'Earth-like'. Much more importantly, the Earth is beautiful. From above, from a height of 400 kilometres, it looks surprisingly fragile," said Borisov.
The cosmonaut also noted that it was impossible to see the planet completely from the ISS, because the station was too close.
"For the Earth to look like a ball, you have to travel a lot further away from it - at least to a distance of 35-40,000 kilometres. From here - from a height of 400 kilometres - we can see only part of the planet's surface, for example, the entire continent of Europe," he explained.
Borisov arrived at the ISS aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon craft with the Crew-7 expedition on August 27, 2023.
The crew also included NASA astronaut and Crew-7 commander Jasmin Moghbeli, European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Andreas Mogensen and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa.
Borisov is the third Russian cosmonaut to travel to the ISS aboard a SpaceX rocket, after Anna Kikina and Andrey Fedyaev, who arrived at the station in October 2022 and March 2023, respectively.
'Beautiful' and 'surprisingly fragile' - Cosmonaut Borisov surveys Planet Earth from 400km-high ISS *EXCLUSIVE*
Russian cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov was seen viewing the Earth from his 400km-high vantage point on the International Space Station (ISS), and dispelled some common misconceptions about its appearance.
The exclusive footage filmed on Sunday, February 18, also shows a view of the Earth's surface and atmosphere from the porthole on the ISS.
"The Earth is not completely spherical - it is slightly squashed at the poles. The heights of the continents are different. The shape of the Earth's surface is also distorted by tidal deformations, so it is more correct to say that our planet is a rotational ellipsoid or geoid, which translates from Greek as 'Earth-like'. Much more importantly, the Earth is beautiful. From above, from a height of 400 kilometres, it looks surprisingly fragile," said Borisov.
The cosmonaut also noted that it was impossible to see the planet completely from the ISS, because the station was too close.
"For the Earth to look like a ball, you have to travel a lot further away from it - at least to a distance of 35-40,000 kilometres. From here - from a height of 400 kilometres - we can see only part of the planet's surface, for example, the entire continent of Europe," he explained.
Borisov arrived at the ISS aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon craft with the Crew-7 expedition on August 27, 2023.
The crew also included NASA astronaut and Crew-7 commander Jasmin Moghbeli, European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Andreas Mogensen and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa.
Borisov is the third Russian cosmonaut to travel to the ISS aboard a SpaceX rocket, after Anna Kikina and Andrey Fedyaev, who arrived at the station in October 2022 and March 2023, respectively.
Russian cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov was seen viewing the Earth from his 400km-high vantage point on the International Space Station (ISS), and dispelled some common misconceptions about its appearance.
The exclusive footage filmed on Sunday, February 18, also shows a view of the Earth's surface and atmosphere from the porthole on the ISS.
"The Earth is not completely spherical - it is slightly squashed at the poles. The heights of the continents are different. The shape of the Earth's surface is also distorted by tidal deformations, so it is more correct to say that our planet is a rotational ellipsoid or geoid, which translates from Greek as 'Earth-like'. Much more importantly, the Earth is beautiful. From above, from a height of 400 kilometres, it looks surprisingly fragile," said Borisov.
The cosmonaut also noted that it was impossible to see the planet completely from the ISS, because the station was too close.
"For the Earth to look like a ball, you have to travel a lot further away from it - at least to a distance of 35-40,000 kilometres. From here - from a height of 400 kilometres - we can see only part of the planet's surface, for example, the entire continent of Europe," he explained.
Borisov arrived at the ISS aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon craft with the Crew-7 expedition on August 27, 2023.
The crew also included NASA astronaut and Crew-7 commander Jasmin Moghbeli, European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Andreas Mogensen and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa.
Borisov is the third Russian cosmonaut to travel to the ISS aboard a SpaceX rocket, after Anna Kikina and Andrey Fedyaev, who arrived at the station in October 2022 and March 2023, respectively.