Life aboard the International Space Station is tough. The astronauts live and work in cramped quarters, carrying out difficult tasks without the luxury of gravity, and don’t get a lot of privacy. But then there’s the view. The ISS circles Earth roughly 16 times in a 24-hour period, offering astronauts a breathtaking panorama of our planet from 250 miles up, with a sunrise every 90 minutes. 

First-time European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot recently took advantage of this incredible view to snap a few photos as the space station passed over Italy. She captured both of the country’s famed volcanoes—Mt. Vesuvius and Mt. Etna—and shared them on social media.

“From orbit, volcanoes are some of the most beautiful natural sights … Etna caught me by surprise one morning as I opened the shutters,” she wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “The whiteness of its slopes … and that elegant plume of smoke which is a gentle reminder that it’s only lightly, very lightly, asleep.”

Read more: “The Best Photos of the Artemis II Mission”

“Less than a minute later, and we’re flying over Vesuvius, instantly recognisable by the vast crater, the path winding up to the summit, and, most of all, Naples spread out all around it,” she added.

Adenot is scheduled to remain on board ISS with the rest of Crew-12 until September. During her first trip to space, she’ll be taking part in more than 200 scientific and technological experiments, including a test of the ESA’s new spacesuit. Hopefully she’ll have time to take a few more photos, too.

Enjoying Nautilus? Subscribe to our free newsletter.

Lead photo by Sophie Adenot