Stunning Grand Canyon photo captured from space looks just like Mars

By Trevor Mogg Published July 7, 2025

Since returning to Earth in April following a seven-month stay aboard the International Space Station (ISS), NASA astronaut and accomplished photographer Don Pettit has been sorting through the numerous images that he took while aboard the orbital outpost, many of which he’s now sharing for the first time.

Take this stunner (below) that he posted on Monday, for example. It shows the Grand Canyon captured in near-infrared by Pettit as the space station passed overheard some 250 miles up. And as Pettit notes, it has a definite Mars-like quality about it.

“The Grand Canyon region photographed in near-infrared from the ISS, reminiscent of the surface of Mars,” the astronaut commented in the post.

Early on in his most recent ISS mission, Pettit, who at 70 is NASA’s oldest serving astronaut, shared another equally impressive shot (below) of the Grand Canyon, one that wouldn’t look out of place in an art gallery.

“The Grand Canyon is an orbital optical illusion,” Pettit said. “Instead of appearing as a deep trench, it is perceived as a contorted bump.” 

Pettit adds that the image reminds him of “cardiac arteries on the heartland of Earth.”

Following his first two long-duration stays aboard the ISS in 2002 and 2011, Pettit spoke about his enthusiasm for taking photos from orbit.

“Astronaut imagery of Earth is an example of learning what you need to take pictures of and how to take the pictures,” he said in an interview with SmugMug Films.

Pettit continued: “How to take those pictures in space is incredibly complex. Certain camera components, like the flash, have to be modified to work in a vacuum. The cameras need to be steadied extremely carefully to avoid motion blur.

“Things don’t work the way they do down here on Earth. You are moving at eight kilometers a second. And so you have to be able to slew the camera at the same rate of orbital motion while you’re taking pictures to actually get the sharpest imagery.”

For more of Pettit’s fabulous work, check out this collection of some of the best images captured during his most recent ISS visit.