Earth Science

This photo of hurricane Lili, captured during the Expedition Five mission, shows the compact storm system and the structure of its estimated 15 nautical mile wide eye. After strengthening to a Category 4 storm (125 knots with the central pressure of 940 millibars), Lili weakened to a Category 2 before slamming into the central coast of Louisiana just south of Lafayette. This is one of many photos that stem form the Crew Observation (CEO) experiment that has been a part of every Space Station expedition.