Astronaut captures snake-like auroras from a SpaceX Dragon | Space photo of the day for June 9, 2026

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NASA astronaut Jessica Meir captured a breathtaking view of auroras on Earth from orbit while sheltering with her fellow astronauts in a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft as a pair of cosmonauts attempted to fix a concerning air leak on the International Space Station.

What is it?

Last week on Friday, June 5, the four Crew-12 astronauts on the ISS took shelter in the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft that carried them to the station. They did this as a precaution as cosmonauts attempted to fix a leak in a tunnel leading to a Russian module.

But Meir made good use of her temporary surroundings, capturing truly incredible images (and even video) of auroras over Earth from the Dragon.

"There is a lot going on right now on the @Space_Station, but fortunately we are all safe and witnessed a spectacular southern aurora show yesterday thanks to a recent solar event," Meir said in a post on X.

Why is it incredible?

While these images, and the video that Meir shared are stunning on their own, the context behind their capture is fascinating. Meir wasn't just in the Dragon capsule for fun, her and the rest of the Crew-12 astronauts were told to shelter in the capsule as the cosmonauts, Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev, attempted to fix an ongoing leak on the station.

They hunkered down "out of an abundance of caution," according to NASA spokesperson Bethany Stevens, while two cosmonauts went out on a spacewalk to attempt to fix an air leak on the station.

This has been a persistent, ongoing leak caused by cracks in the PrK transfer tunnel which connects to the Russian Zvezda service module. But while Russia's space agency Roscosmos manages the leak with occasional repairs, according to Stevens, the leak started presenting as more of an issue recently.