Space painting

Nasa astronaut Jack Fischer tweeted this photograph, left, of the Great Salt Lake, Utah, USA, as he orbited the Earth in the International Space Station (ISS). He told followers of his @Astro2fish account: “Oh my, tell me that doesn’t look like a watercolor tray? The Earth surprises me with its beauty every day. #Earthshapes.” Fischer, who has been tweeting images of the Earth during his three months in space, also posted a photograph of the Russian Progress cargo vehicle, above. Progress is an expendable unmanned cargo craft whose purpose is to ferry supplies to the ISS. Once docked it delivers its payload and is gradually filled with waste, disconnected, and de-orbited, at which point it burns up in the atmosphere.