The Lights of Mecca: Islam's Holiest City in Saudi Arabia | International Space Station

The Lights of Mecca: Islam's Holiest City in Saudi Arabia | International Space Station

The city lights of Mecca, Islam's holiest city in the desert valley of western Saudi Arabia, are pictured from the International Space Station as it orbited 259 miles above. Mecca is the third-most populated city in Saudi Arabia after Riyadh and Jeddah.

Hajj is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca. It is a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by all adult Muslims who are physically and financially capable of undertaking the journey, and of supporting their family during their absence from home.

United Arab Emirates astronaut Sultan AlNeyadi of the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center is making history as the first astronaut from the Arab world to spend six months on the International Space Station as part of a long-duration human spaceflight mission.

Follow Expedition 69 updates here: https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the  International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada. The ISS has been the most politically complex space exploration program ever undertaken.

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Image Date: July 26, 2023

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