![](\"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Golden_pass_card_full.png\")
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Timelapse video made during ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet\u2019s second mission to the International Space Station, \u201cAlpha\u201d. The camera is setup to take pictures at intervals of two a second, and the pictures are then edited into this video that plays at 25 pictures a second. The video is around 12 times faster than real speed.<\/p>\n
Thomas shared this video on social media with the caption:<\/p>\n
\u201cA timelapse on what I call the Golden Pass. It is not to be missed when it happens, because the Space Station orbit takes us diagonally over France northwest to southeast, over the Alps, along Italy, across the Mediterranean to the Nile delta and down along the Red Sea until the Indian ocean (it\u2019s all aligned along the same angle, so when our orbital plane hits that trajectory once in a blue moon, it\u2019s always great). Much to see and many wonderful landscapes. Remember 70% of Earth is water, so we spend a lot of time flying over the blue seas and clouds (also beautiful but hum, lands win, because variety).\u201d<\/p>\n
Over 200 experiments are planned during Thomas\u2019 time in space, with 40 European ones and 12 new experiments led by the French space agency CNES.<\/p>\n
Latest updates on the Alpha mission can be found via @esaspaceflight<\/a> on Twitter, with more details on ESA\u2019s exploration blog via thomaspesquet.esa.int<\/a>.<\/p>\n Background information on the Alpha mission is available at www.esa.int\/MissionAlpha<\/a> with a brochure at www.esa.int\/AlphaBrochure<\/a>.<\/p>\n