Dragon's-eye view: Astronaut captures amazing shots of Hurricane Milton from space (photos)

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NASA's Matthew Dominick gave us some striking looks at the powerful storm from orbit.

view through an orbiting spacecraft's window showing a large hurricane on earth below, with a white space capsule in the foreground
NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick captured this view of Hurricane Milton from SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule Endeavour, which is docked to the International Space Station, on Oct. 8, 2024. (Image credit: NASA/Matthew Dominick)

NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick has given us dramatic, Dragon's-eye views of Hurricane Milton churning its way toward landfall.

Dominick posted a timelapse video on X (formerly Twitter) today, showing Hurricane Milton through the window of the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule Endeavour, which is docked to the International Space Station (ISS).

Endeavour is flying SpaceX's Crew-8 mission for NASA; in early March, the capsule carried Dominick to the orbiting lab along with fellow NASA astronauts Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps, as well as Alexander Grebenkin of Russia's space agency Roscosmos.

Zoomed-in view of Hurricane Milton, as seen by Matthew Dominick out the window of the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule Endeavour. (Image credit: NASA/Matthew Dominick)

Crew-8 is winding down. It was supposed to return to Earth on Monday (Oct. 7), in fact, but Hurricane Milton has delayed the homecoming. The storm is powering its way through the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida, roiling up the waters of Endeavour's planned splashdown zone.

As a result, NASA and SpaceX have pushed Crew-8's planned undocking to Sunday (Oct. 13) at the earliest.

Related: Hurricane Milton forces NASA, SpaceX to delay Crew-8 astronauts' return to Earth

Milton is currently a Category 4 hurricane, the second-most powerful type. It's expected to make landfall on Florida's Gulf Coast, near Tampa and St. Petersburg, late Wednesday (Oct. 9) as a Category 3 storm, according to The Associated Press. Milton will then continue moving east across Florida, likely affecting the state's Atlantic coast as well.

The storm has already forced NASA to stand down from the planned Thursday (Oct. 10) launch of the $5 billion Europa Clipper mission from Florida's Kennedy Space Center. A new target date will be announced after the storm passes.

RELATED STORIES:

— SpaceX's Crew-8 astronauts move Dragon at the ISS to make way for Boeing's Starliner

— Meet the SpaceX Crew-8 astronauts

— SpaceX, NASA stand down from Oct. 10 Europa Clipper launch due to Hurricane Milton

Endeavour isn't the only SpaceX capsule docked to the ISS at the moment. The Crew Dragon spacecraft Freedom arrived on Sept. 29, flying the company's Crew-9 mission for NASA.

Freedom is visible in Dominick's footage, partially blocking the amazing view of Earth from Endeavour's window.  

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Mike Wall
Mike Wall
Senior Space Writer

Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.