A setting Sun and a thin blue strip of Earth’s atmosphere highlight this view from a space station window.

STARDATE: Can you tell me a little bit about the view that you have of the night sky from 200 miles above Earth’s surface?

PAVEL VINOGRADOV: I don’t know how to choose words to explain how fantastic, how beautiful Earth is at sunrise and sunset, and the morning or at night. It’s hard to say what’s better. It’s beautiful, always.

JEFF WILLIAMS: Yes, as Pavel said, it’s always beautiful up here. You never get tired of looking out the window and seeing the grandeur of the Earth below -- the Blue Planet, as we like to call it. And all of the details on the surface of the planet -- the atmosphere when you look at the horizon. And of course, during our nighttime, looking out at the starfield is magnificent.....

STARDATE: And are you able to see meteors streaking through the atmosphere below, or to see the aurora, and what kind of an experience is that?

WILLIAMS: I’ve not seen one on this flight. I did on my previous flight, and I’m sure that Pavel did on his previous flight. And it’s pretty eye-watering to see a meteorite go through the atmosphere, and you know it’s below you. It’s very rare to be able to see such a thing, just like it is on the planet’s surface, you just have to be looking out the window at the right time and the right direction. But it’s fabulous. We have been talking about looking for the aurora. We haven’t had time to do much. We suspect that we will be able to see it sometime in the next few weeks. We both have seen it on a previous flight, and it is absolutely magnificent to see the brilliant colors coming off the poles of the planet.