Swede in Space, Take Three

Christer Fuglesang, the first Swede in space, is back on Earth. The space shuttle Discovery touched down on Kennedy Space Center’s runway in Florida on 22 December 2006 at 22:32 GMT. The national space frenzy may now rest, and Swedish mainstream media can go back to its normal state of torpid dullness.

Before Dr Fuglesang returned to Earth’s surface, he took a few pictures of Sweden and the Scandinavian Peninsula from space. One of them can be seen above. The large cluster of light stretching across the picture is the aurora borealis. The smaller and brighter clusters of light are larger cities and metropolitan areas in Northern Europe. The biggest one—seen slightly left of centre—is my home. That is the Öresund Region, the most populous metropolitan area in Scandinavia.

(Photo: NASA)