CHICAGO — Terry W. Virts Jr. is looking down on us — and liking what he sees.
The NASA astronaut, currently on board the International Space Station, has become a sensation on Twitter through his many photographs. Today, Chicago was in focus from 250 miles high.
Taking a picture over the midwest, Virts noted, "It's great to see the #GreatLakes with no snow!"
In November, he tweeted out an image he described as "sunrise from Chicago to Florida."
And in March, he sent out a little quiz:
An astronaut since 2000, Virts has taken some incredible images, including lightning storms, typhoons and, with the death of actor Leonard Nimoy, who starred as Spock in Star Trek, a picture of the hand signal the Spock character used.
Virtz, an Air Force colonel, is from Maryland. He is the commander of Expedition 43, a joint project with Russia and Italy which began in March and is expected to end this month. Its mission includes studying meteors as they enter Earth's atmosphere.
About the size of a football field, the International Space Station speeds along at five miles per second, allowing it to orbit the Earth every 90 minutes. Astronauts see 16 sunrises and sunsets each day. You can track its location here.
The station is about 250 miles above the Earth.
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