Astronaut shares ‘precious’ video of the moment she looked at Earth from space

Kellie Gerardi, an astronaut, took to Instagram to share a beautiful video capturing a glimpse of her journey to space. The clip captures her reaction to looking at Earth for the first time while on space.

“This brings me to instant tears every time I see and hear it. I almost didn’t share this- it’s so precious to me, and I’m so grateful to have these moments captured. I know it’s not the most “professional” reaction at apogee… but it’s real, it’s raw, and it’s the human part of human spaceflight,” Gerardi wrote as she shared the video.

Also Read: 5 incredible videos that show life of astronauts on ISS

The video opens with a text insert that reads, “The actual audio from the moment I secured the science and finally got to look down at planet Earth from space”. The rest of the clip captures her, along with her crewmates, looking at our Blue Planet in wonder.

Take a look at this mind-blowing video:

The video was posted on February 8. Since then, the video has gone viral with nearly 10 million views - and the numbers are still increasing. The share has further prompted people to post varied comments.

How did Instagram users react to this video of the astronaut?

“What do you have to say to people who think this is staged? That we have never gone to space. That this is underwater and not real at all?” asked an Instagram user. To which, Gerardi replied, “I feel incredible sadness for them. They were lucky enough to be born in this unprecedented and fragile window in history, the first time in 4 billion years that life on Earth has the ability to venture off of our home planet — and they choose to navel-gaze instead of simply looking up. I have to believe the delusion is some sort of mental self-defence mechanism- and that some people’s minds just aren’t equipped to handle the magnitude and profundity of our universe”.

Also Read: NASA shares iconic throwback pic of astronaut who performed first untethered spacewalk 40 years ago

Another added, “This is incredible”. A third joined, “It’s professional because a pro had that reaction. Beautiful to see, thank you for sharing”. A fourth wrote, “I'm a computer engineering student, not an aero engineering student, but regardless I get so emotional watching your content. You're truly an inspiration to so many of us out here”.