Baikonur seen from space

ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst took this image circling Earth on the International Space Station during his six-month Blue Dot mission in 2014.

Alexander commented: " History alive: Yuri Gagarin launched into space from this very place 53 years ago. Max Surayev, Reid Wiseman and I just 53 days ago."

Read more about the Blue Dot mission at http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/Blue_dot

Follow Alexander via alexandergerst.esa.int