The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
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ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet is spending six months on the International Space Station as part of his second mission Alpha. In his free time, like many astronauts, he enjoys looking out of the Cupola windows at Earth. This collage of pictures shows the Burgundy region, France, made from many pictures mapped together, digitally rotated and assembled into this large collage.
He shared this image on social media with the caption: "La Bourgogne! Or Burgundy as it’s called in English. This area in France is known for its world-class wines, its cheeses (OK, OK most places in France are) but also for fine living in general. Burgundy is also a colour, named after the colour of the wine. Most villages in the area gave their names to a grand cru, like Meursault, Gevrey-Chambertin, Vougeot and many more."
Thomas asked to have the series of highly zoomed-in pictures aligned into this collage to show the area in detail. The International Space Station flies at roughly 400 km altitude so Thomas uses the longest lenses available onboard.