Astronaut captures view of Hurricane Milton from space

NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick captured photos and videos of Hurricane Milton from space as the storm barrels toward central Florida.

Dominick posted the hurricane image and video on the social platform X, showing Milton through the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule Endeavour window currently docked at the International Space Station.

“We flew over Hurricane Milton about 90 minutes ago. Here is the view out the Dragon Endeavour window,” Dominick posted Tuesday morning. “Expect lots of images from this window as this is where I’m sleeping while we wait to undock and return to Earth.”

According to the National Hurricane Center, Milton is heading toward Florida and is expected to make landfall Wednesday evening. The Tampa and Sarasota areas are expected to see 10 to 15-foot storm surges.

Mandatory evacuations have been ordered for much of the state’s west coast. It’s the first major hurricane to directly hit the Tampa area in more than a century.

President Biden and local officials are warning residents in the area to follow evacuation orders and listen to warnings as they prepare for the storm to hit.

“If you’re under an evacuation order, you should evacuate now. Now, now, now. You should have already evacuated. It’s a matter of life and death,” Biden said.

The hurricane intensified quickly over the Gulf of Mexico and became a Category 5 storm on Monday.

It was temporarily downgraded to a Category 4 storm as of early Tuesday and was expected to be a Category 3 storm by the time it reached land, but officials upgraded it again on Tuesday afternoon to a Category 5 storm, The Associated Press reported.