NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick has given us dramatic, Dragon’s-eye views of Hurricane Milton churning its way toward landfall.
Dominick posted a timelapse video on X (formerly Twitter) today, showing Hurricane Milton through the window of the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule Endeavour, which is docked to the International Space Station (ISS).
Endeavour is flying SpaceX’s Crew-8 mission for NASA; in early March, the capsule carried Dominick to the orbiting lab along with fellow NASA astronauts Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps, as well as Alexander Grebenkin of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos.
Crew-8 is winding down. It was supposed to return to Earth on Monday (Oct. 7), in fact, but Hurricane Milton has delayed the homecoming. The storm is powering its way through the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida, roiling up the waters of Endeavour’s planned splashdown zone.
As a result, NASA and SpaceX have pushed Crew-8’s planned undocking to Sunday (Oct. 13) at the earliest.
Related: Hurricane Milton forces NASA, SpaceX to delay Crew-8 astronauts’ return to Earth
Milton is currently a Category 4 hurricane, the second-most powerful type. It’s expected to make landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast, near Tampa and St. Petersburg, late Wednesday (Oct. 9) as a Category 3 storm, according to The Associated Press. Milton will then continue moving east across Florida, likely affecting the state’s Atlantic coast as well.
The storm has already forced NASA to stand down from the planned Thursday (Oct. 10) launch of the $5 billion Europa Clipper mission from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. A new target date will be announced after the storm passes.
Timelapse flying by Hurricane Milton about 2 hours ago. 1/6400 sec exposure, 14mm, ISO 500, 0.5 sec interval, 30fps pic.twitter.com/p5wBlC95mxOctober 8, 2024
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Endeavour isn’t the only SpaceX capsule docked to the ISS at the moment. The Crew Dragon spacecraft Freedom arrived on Sept. 29, flying the company’s Crew-9 mission for NASA.
Freedom is visible in Dominick’s footage, partially blocking the amazing view of Earth from Endeavour’s window.
