The Big Apple – New York City

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 New York City, USA, is made from around 30 pictures taken on 16 June 2021 from 12:22 GMT mapped together, digitally rotated and assembled into one large image.

Thomas shared this image on social media with the caption: New York City. The Big Apple. The city that never sleeps. Can you see the shadows of the skyscrapers in these early morning shots? You certainly can't miss the huge rectangle of Central Park – even bigger than it seems on the ground. Like many others, I always thought I'd like to live here, if only for a little while... And because New York, as locals will confirm, is not just Manhattan – a collage from New Jersey to JFK Airport via the Bronx, Queens and of course Brooklyn in the foreground.

The International Space Station flies at roughly 400 km altitude so Thomas uses the longest lenses available onboard.