posted 05-02-2023 10:44 AM               

Take a trip around Earth, with a front-row seat on the International Space Station and an astronaut as your guide.

"The Earth in Our Hands" is a work of amazing breadth and beauty. Astronaut Thomas Pesquet brought his camera along for the ride when he was deployed to the International Space Station, and from this exceptional vantage point, he captured the Earth and its surroundings in sweeping views and stunning detail.

Seas, rivers, islands, deserts, mountains, cities. From April to November 2021, Pesquet photographed every aspect of our planet from every angle. Spectacular and fascinating pictorials of the Alpha mission reveal the fragility of Earth and the need for humanity to protect it.

"The Earth in Our Hands" begins as does the day, at dawn, and more than 200 stunning photos take readers through clouds, seas, coastlines, cities, deserts, mountains and, finally, nightfall. Readers are also treated to four panoramic gatefolds that cover the ISS crew, the Bahamas, Uluru (also known as Ayers Rock) and New York City.

Fantastic views of auroras, storms, coastlines and cities at night are a few of the delights.

A vibrant tribute to the wonders of nature and a passionate plea for a collective awareness of the effects of climate change, "The Earth in Our Hands" is as compelling as it is beautiful.

• Hardcover, ‏ 384pages
  
• Firefly Books (October 1, 2023)
  
• ISBN-10: ‎0228104440
  
• ISBN-13: ‎978-0228104445

posted 10-23-2023 12:00 AM               

How astronaut Thomas Pesquet captured the planet in 'The Earth in Our Hands'

Flipping through his new book of more than 200 photographs of Earth, or, if you are determined, the more than 245,000 images he took during his second mission aboard the International Space Station, you get the sense that Thomas Pesquet thoroughly captured the planet.

In "The Earth in Our Hands: Photos from the International Space Station," Pesquet, a French astronaut with the European Space Agency (ESA), curates his favorite views of our home world, showcasing its varied landscapes of both natural and human-made features. With a familiarity that only an astronaut can gain while looking down at Earth for hundreds of days, Pesquet not only conveys the beauty of Earth, but its fragility and the toll climate change has had on our environment.

But as complete a portrait of Earth as Pesquet was able to capture, there was one target that, try as he might, escaped his camera...