French Astronaut Thomas Pesquet's Amazing Photos from Space (Gallery)

France at night

ESA/NASA

At night, the lights in the southern portion of France glimmer and even the Earth's atmosphere glows in a halo. ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet took the image December 10, 2016.

Estuaire de la Gironde

ESA/NASA

The "Mouth of France," the estuary of the Gironde in Nouvelle-Aquitaine welcomes the ISS in the sky above on December 10, 2016.

Clouds over the Sahara

ESA/NASA

The Sahara Desert offers up an orange background to the very white graffiti-like cloud formations on December 10, 2016.

The Andes

ESA/NASA

This view of the Andes on December 3, 2016, contains a variety of colors to see: browns, grays and reds.

The Andes

ESA/NASA

More colors are added to the palette of the Andes with blacks, blues, greens and oranges in this December 3, 2016 image.

Desert Art

ESA/NASA

What seem to be great brush strokes across this vast desert brings to mind meticulous artistic touches in this December 12, 2016 image by Pesquet.

Madrid

ESA/NASA

Astronaut Thomas Pesquet reminisces about time in the beautiful city of Madrid and how he spent New Year's Eve on Puerta del Sol.

Alps in a glance

ESA/NASA

From the perspective of the International Space Station, ESA's Thomas Pesquet captured a unique view — a single image encompassing all the Alps, taken on December 22, 2016.

Moon

ESA/NASA

The solar arrays for the ISS almost mask the moon, once a destination for men, and soon to be again.

Cities at Night

ESA/NASA

Electricity on Earth are not the only source of light. When the moon is up, its light reflects across snow, and with the city lights provides a stunning image of Torino, Milano and Lyon.

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Christine Lunsford
Producer and Contributing Writer

Christine Lunsford joined the Space.com team in 2010 as a freelance producer and later became a contributing writer, covering astrophotography images, astronomy photos and amazing space galleries and more. During her more than 10 years with Space.com, oversaw the site's monthly skywatching updates and produced overnight features and stories on the latest space discoveries. She enjoys learning about subjects of all kinds.