‘Hometown from space.’ Richland astronaut posts out of this world photos of Tri-Cities

After five months in space NASA astronaut Kayla Barron has finally snapped the pictures she wanted — views of the Tri-Cities and her hometown of Richland from the International Space Station.

“It can be hard to spot and is often been covered by clouds, but I was able to follow the Columbia River all the way from the coast to the Tri-Cities,” she posted to Facebook.

Her time in space is coming to an end as SpaceX Crew-3 is preparing to return to Earth later this month after Crew-4 arrives to staff the space station.

Tri-Cities and Washington state residents were delighted by the shots.

“As a fellow space nerd, I can’t thank you enough for these cool pictures — absolutely beautiful!” posted Oscar Sanchez of Pasco.

“Yay!! A special way to put the Tri on the map!!” posted Christine Gish of Pasco.

Some people found it difficult to tell what was what, but other posters helpfully advised them to look for the Yakima and Snake rivers flowing into the Columbia River.

Others pointed out landmarks like the faint white lines that showed from the L-shaped LIGO observatory north of Richland at the Hanford nuclear reservation site.

“Thank you for sharing! I’m a teacher in Kennewick and we were able to find our school’s general area. The kids were so excited to see their school from space!” posted Erin Theresa.

Barron is a graduate of Richland High and still considers Richland her hometown.

“That so cool, not many people get to say they saw their hometown from space!” Cody Wasemiller posted.

Other posters put in requests for other views they’d like to see, like the Columbia River Gorge.

And there was plenty of joking.

“Awww man I blinked! We need to take it again lol,” one person posted.

Other people offered to stand outside and wave for a redo.

This story was originally published April 18, 2022 at 12:59 PM.