NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara shares the ‘one thing I did not expect to see from space’

  • NASA astronaut, Loral O’Hara, has been sharing unique sights from her six-month stint aboard the ISS
  • Since arriving in space, she’s been sharing posts about her daily life on her Instagram
  • She recently spotted an unexpected sight in the Arabian Sea

Published on Apr 09, 2024 at 6:28 PM (UTC+4)
by Andie Reeves

Last updated on Apr 10, 2024 at 3:11 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones

NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara shares the ‘one thing I did not expect to see from space’

A NASA astronaut has revealed an unexpected sight visible from space.

Loral O’Hara has been aboard the International Space Station for the past six months.

While up there, she’s been helping NASA prepare for missions to the Moon and Mars.

Plus she’s been sharing some of the lesser known sights of Earth from above.

READ MORE: NASA reveals lunar racer car that’ll transport astronauts to uncharted destinations on the Moon

While most people use Instagram to post photos from their holidays or highlights from their daily lives, Loral O’Hara uses it a bit differently.

She also shares the highlights of her days, but they’re particularly noteworthy seeing as she’s in space.

The NASA astronaut reached the ISS in September 2023.

Since arriving, she’s been involved in research and scientific experiments designed to understand how microgravity affects the human body.

After all, it’s been shown that astronauts essentially return to Earth as different people.

She also made waves for being one of the NASA astronauts responsible for dropping a toolbag in space.

The bag was carrying $100,000 worth of equipment, and remains orbiting the earth as ‘space junk’ to this day.

When looking down on Earth, astronauts expect to see water, land, and maybe even the Great Pyramids of Giza.

But O’Hara captured a sight she didn’t know she’d be able to see from so far away.

She shared a photo of what looks like a massive sprawling city, lit up with electricity.

But it turns out these photos were actually of fishing fleets in the ocean, specifically the Arabian Sea along India’s west coast, and the Gulf of Thailand and Andaman Sea.

“The multicolored arrays of light on the water are fishing boats,” O’Hara said.

“These are only two of many hot spots.”

O’Hara is back on Earth now, taking part in the training astronauts have to undergo to get used to experiencing gravity again.

# Tags - Space


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Andie Reeves

Andie is a content writer from South Africa with a background in broadcasting and journalism. Starting her career in the glossy pages of Cosmopolitan and Marie Claire, Andie has a broad portfolio, covering everything from sustainability solutions to celebrity car collections. When not at her laptop Andie can be found sewing, recording her podcast, taking board games too seriously or road-tripping in her bright green Kia.