Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti is taking gorgeous pictures of Earth from space

Imagine being able to see the biggest storms . . . from space. That’s the position European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti is in, and recently, one of her pictures went viral because it’s, well, terrifying and gorgeous and like nothing we’ve ever seen before

Samantha is currently orbiting the Earth on the International Space Station for Expedition 42/43, according to her Facebook page. While she’s up there doing her work, she’s taking some really amazing photos, uploading them to social, and totally blowing us earthlings away.

The one that really brought attention to Samantha’s lovely work was an incredibly harrowing picture of Super Typhoon Maysak uploaded earlier this week. You can literally see the eye of the storm thanks to her photo. The storm is a deadly one and has already taken the lives of at least four people on islands in the western Pacific Ocean, according to ABC News. The view provided by Samantha’s photo shows how massive this super typhoon really is.

Samantha tweeted:

These photographs are not only terrifying, but super breathtaking. Thanks to their awesomeness we decided to head over to the amazing astronaut’s Facebook page to take a look at some of her other pictures from space. Spoiler alert: ALL of them will take your breath away.

First up, here’s Samantha inside the ship. This is literally her at her job. Space is her place of employment. We are in awe.

For a little background on Samantha, she was selected as an ESA astronaut back in 2009, and in July of 2012, she announced she would be embarking on a long-duration space mission, “to be launched on a Soyuz spacecraft from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in 2014.” She is now the first Italian woman in space (woo!).

If that isn’t amazing enough, Samantha is sharing her experiences through her beautiful photos. She also kindly tells us what she’s looking at in her equally awe-inspiring captions. Take a look at a few of her amazing pix below, and say hello to your new hero Samantha.

Her caption: “A silver snake . . . maybe it was frozen in this harsh North American winter? ‪#‎HelloEarth‬”

Her caption: “Amazing! I just had to try the 1200mm lens to capture the pyramids of Giza, of course a ‪#‎WorldHeritage‬ site. ‪#‎Egypt‬”

Her caption: “Mount Shasta in #California covered in snow back in January. I understand last eruption was hundreds of years ago.” 

Her caption: “First light on the horizon as we flew over #China. I can see a bright Beijing. #HelloEarth”

 Her caption: “Hallo ‪#‎Naples‬! Look at the clouds hugging Mt Vesuv!”

Her caption: “And suddenly as we flew over the Pacific . . . the island of #Hawaii with its volcanoes! #HelloEarth”

Hats off to Samantha, who is making history, and being so kind as to share it with us.

Photos via