NASA -- The Italian astronaut by the name of Luca Parmitano, has seen the worst impacts of climate change to the world from the International Space Station. The engineer from the European Space Agency, spoke about the issue of climate change in a press conference from the space station.
He said that the changes in how the Earth looks are quite noticeable from the International Space Station (ISS), though it orbits the Earth from 408 km above its atmosphere.
"From the ISS, we can observe how the Earth looks like and from what I can see, I can say that the photographs of the Earth taken by my companions and I are all authentic. The changes are real," he added. "I have seen desert move forward while the glaciers continue to melt."
He expressed that he will continue to share photos on social media to warn people about the problem. People need to know what is happening to the planet and that's because of what they continue to do.
"I hope that our words and our view of the planet will serve as a warning to people. We remain hopeful that the photos that we share be shared to alarm the world that we are losing the battle against global warming," he added. "I am not sure if it is something that's reversible, but we should do something to reduce it, if not stop it."
Parmitano has given his first press conference since he arrived at the orbital station a week ago. It is his second time to be assigned to the satellite station. His first was in 2013 in a mission referred to as Volare. This 42-year old has been sent out in space as part of the Beyond mission, which includes a series of experiments to prepare the ISS and the world for future space explorations. The future projects include the return to the Moon in 2024 and the planned expedition in Mars.
Parmitano went to the space station with Russian Alexander Skvortsov and the American Andrew Morgan on July 20 of this year. He will be staying in a place with zero gravity for two hundred days. On the second half of the mission, he will be first in command of the orbital laboratory. He is the first Italian to be given such privilege.
