Anil Menon

Canada - as seen from the space station window this morning.

Cygnus is leaving us today. It carries with it science to help us on our next steps further from earth such as a heat shield test from the University of Kentucky called KREPE

There is so much packed into these photos. Unforgettable memories. Dragon has departed with Crew-12 and is on the way back to Earth after eight months.

In front of Dragon is the antenna we installed together. These were both peak teamwork moments for @Space_Station and ground teams across @NASA and commercial operators.

LIVE: The members of Crew-12 are inside their spacecraft and ready to head back to Earth. Watch as they undock from the @Space_Station around 8:05am ET (1205 UTC) and begin their trip home. x.com/i/broadcasts/1…

They say when one door closes, another one opens. In this case, we are closing two doors and opening many more. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for Crew-12 reuniting with their families. The entire @Space_Station crew wishes them a safe journey. Godspeed

LIVE: After nearly eight months aboard the @Space_Station, it’s time for Crew-12 to come home. Tune in as the spacecraft hatch closes around 6:20am ET (1020 UTC). x.com/i/broadcasts/1…

Departure moment - early morning prep for undocking. Hair braids.

Crew-12 is preparing for departure this morning with a 4 AM wake up time and a careful eye on the weather reports that will determine whether or not they can undock. Captain Jack Hathaway shares his morning prep.

Chez ISS Season 1 - Episode 5: family style gatherings on @Space_Station. On Sunday we had the change of command ceremony and Crew-12 is preparing to leave. Currently, we have 11 people on station and aged cheddar so we are making the most of it! Join us for this final episode of season 1 as we prepare for season 2.

Physics corner with Captain Jack. He'll be leaving in a few days on Crew-12 so we are trying to learn as much as we can before he goes. Today we did spacewalk prep together and this weekend we ate our last apple.

The night’s watch: Aurora through the eye of the Dragon. This timelapse had the same setup as the last post from SpaceX Dragon’s starboard window—with one difference—the aurora is absolutely wild and on fire. Each 90 minute cycle at night has looked like this and KP index has been 4-5.

A tale of two windows. Here is a look outside from Crew-13’s SpaceX Dragon windows. One faces port toward Earth and the other starboard toward Earth. Timelapse is sped up.

Two hatches and a vestibule separate us from Crew-13. Well, actually, just one now.

Crew-13 launch as seen from their destination. Photo wizardry by Dubrov. See you soon Watty, Luke, Josh, and Sergey.

Capturing and celebrating Crew-13 - can’t wait to give them hugs

Like fireflies in the night, lightning is my favorite sight from space. It’s hard to capture and share here. This video is the best representation I have found yet. It’s unchanged, at real speed, and shows the vast reach of storms and lightning across earth, plus the rapid flashes that dance across the horizon.

We are preparing for a handover on station where 4 new crew arrive and 4 return. Crew-12 is preparing to leave, and I had a chance to take photos while they did a spacesuit check out. It's bittersweet but also time for them to return to their loved ones on Earth.

Over the pacific this morning at night. Exposure increased.

Space stations can do gymnastics! Look out the Dragon window and watch us flip direction. In order to boost station, we had to change the direction it was pointing, so NASA engineers flipped it around, and, here, you can see it flipping back. This movie was made from 5500 still images that were taken last night and stitched together. The images were not changed but I did increase and decrease the frame rate to give you a better sense of the movement and Earth.

We’ll be back soon, Moon.