The Earth has always looked beautiful in orbit - even when the pictures were so grainy as to be almost indecipherable.
Now we have HD cameras, low-cost satellites and YouTube.
The below video was recorded in July using a camera aboard the British-built TechDemoSat-1. The video starts 30 seconds after it separates from the launcher, and shows the sun rising from the top of the frame, the Earth below, and then clear shots of the Pacific Ocean and French Polynesia.
About 25 seconds later the Fregat upper stage of the Soyuz-2 cargo ship zips across the frame from left to right, and at 24 seconds another satellite passes across the frame too.
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Take a look at this hauntingly beautiful video:
