NASA astronaut Jessica Meir shares incredible video of aurora over Canada and Alaska from the ISS

On her very first attempt at creating a time-lapse video on her second mission to the International Space Station, NASA’s Jessica Meir managed to capture what is an incredible few seconds of footage. In her X post from March 9, 2026, the featured video has the northern lights dancing over the landmasses of Canada and Alaska. The Earth’s city lights can be seen going past the ISS’s vantage point in orbit, as the stars are seen rotating across the sky. 

The commander of SpaceX's 12th Commercial Crew to the ISS also expressed hope of being able to observe and capture even more spectacular aurora. Pointing to some instances of increased solar activity in the months gone by, she said, “Hoping for some impressive solar events to put on a fascinating show like the ones a few months ago.” There have indeed been some significant events of solar activity, especially with solar maximum having passed in late 2024, resulting in the northern lights being more prominent than usual in many US states, unprecedented geomagnetic storms, and solar flares of high intensity having occurred in the months since. Meir also shared her happiness at being able to work with some of the best cameras and lenses available. She used a Nikon Z9 camera for capturing the timelapse, having previously used a Nikon D5. 

Space photography is something most astronauts are trained to partake in. Meir, however, wanted to talk about the beauty of Earth that astronauts experience firsthand from space and how capturing it is nothing if not pleasing. Meir said, “On my first mission, I completely fell in love with space photography - tough not to when you’re graced with this kind of unique perspective of viewing all that Earth has to behold from above.” Meir and her fellow ISS residents had reportedly been preparing for a spacewalk last week to make repairs due from Crew-11.

Important as her current responsibilities are, Meir has already left a huge legacy in spaceflight history. She and Christina Koch were the participants of the first all-female spacewalk in 2019, laying the path for subsequent all-female spacewalks. Lasting 7 hours and 17 minutes, it was the first spacewalk for Meir and the fourth for Koch, who is also going to become the first woman ever to travel to the vicinity of the Moon with the Artemis II test flight. Koch, Meir, and her ISS crewmate Sophie Adenot, who is only the second French woman to travel to space after Claudie Haigneré, continue to inspire women across the world to aim higher and higher.

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