Zena Cardman serves as the commander of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission, which was launched on August 1, 2025. At the International Space Station, besides her designated research work, Cardman also enjoys taking stunning visuals of the planet blue, as the ISS transits over the Earth.
In her latest tweet on X/Twitter, the Virginia native shared incredible footage of the aurora borealis, aka the northern lights. She remarked,
I’ve still never seen the aurora from below, but up here, it’s a frequent show. Last week’s was especially good.
She adds,
See if you can spot Houston, Florida, and the northern lights all in one frame before we head out across the Gulf and some great lightning storms over South America at sunrise.”
I’ve still never seen aurora from below, but up here, it’s a frequent show. Last week’s was especially good. See if you can spot Houston, Florida, and the northern lights all in one frame, before we head out across the Gulf and some great lightning storms over South America at… pic.twitter.com/THqX83wNXL
— Zena Cardman (@zenanaut) November 17, 2025
https://x.com/Space_Station/status/1990592039113605192
With a bachelor’s degree in Biology and a master’s in Marine Sciences from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Zena Cardman has studied microbial systems in hydrocarbon seeps, hydrothermal vents, and the Arctic. As a flight engineer of Expeditions 73/74, she is carrying out a long-duration science expedition aboard the ISS’s laboratory.
Zena has earlier gigged with the Palmer Long-Term Ecological Research group in Antarctica, besides NASA-supported research in British Columbia, the Canadian high Arctic, Idaho, and Hawaii. She has also briefly worked as an assistant engineer for the Sea Education Association.
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