Nasa astronaut shares striking footage of rare ISS ‘cartwheel’ around Earth

WorldSpace
22 Feb 2026 • 5:12 AM MYT
The Independent
The Independent

The world’s most free-thinking newspaper

image is not available

Nasa astronaut Zena Cardman has shared striking footage of the International Space Station (ISS) "cartwheeling" around Earth.

The ISS performed the rare manoeuvre to allow for a reboost by the Spacex CRS-33. The space station orbits close enough to Earth that there is a small amount of atmospheric drag, and requires periodic reboosts as a result.

The 60x speed timelapse shows the vessel perform an “orbital cartwheel”, as the American astronaut named it, from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

Zena Cardman said, "This was one of my favourites since it captures a little of everything - sunset, lightning storms, air glow, moon glint, stars, and sunrise."

View Original Article