A truly out-of-this-world exhibition of space-related photographs is being held some 400 kilometers above the Earth, with Chinese astronauts on board the country's space station setting up this unique in-orbit photo gallery as a special Chinese New Year gift.
China's space station flies across the sky above the Forbidden City in Beijing, January 3, 2022. /Li Yonggang
China's space station flies across Mt. Qomolangma, January 18, 2022. /Song Xin
Shenzhou-15 crew members Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu showcased 21 photographs of the orbiting Chinese space station captured from the Earth, featuring various striking moments and unique angles.
The photos were among those collected from various sources in a project called "Global Lens on Tiangong" that began in November 2021. The project has attracted widespread attention from professional photographers, astronomy enthusiasts, space professionals and even enthusiastic youngsters, who all produced more than 10,000 photos showing the Chinese space station in action.
China's space station flies across Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwest China, November 21, 2021. /Li Mingtang
China's space station flies across the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in south China, August 22, 2021. /Du Xinxin
Photos of the space station were captured from across China and around the world, from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center to the Forbidden City in Beijing, as well as from the towering heights of Mount Qomolangma to the ancient pyramids of Egypt.
The photos displayed in the Tiangong space station were blasted off into space when the Shenzhou-15 mission was launched on November 29, 2022, with the crew embarking on a six-month stint in space.
China's space station flies across the sky above the building of Xinhua News Agency in Beijing, China, October 19, 2021. /Wang Junfeng
China's space station flies across the sky above the Beijing Planetarium, January 6, 2022. /Zhu Jin
The Shenzhou-15 mission is aimed at wrapping up the final part of the space station's construction and starting the first stage of its application and development phase.
China's space station flies across the sky above Yancheng City, east China's Jiangsu Province, November 25, 2021. /Chen Ke
China's space station flies across the sky above Yunxiao County, Zhangzhou City, southeast China's Fujian Province, July 25, 2022. /Guo Chenyang
China's space station flies across the sky above Nanjing City, east China's Jiangsu Province, August 11, 2022. /Xu Chengcheng, Zhu Yijing
China's space station flies across the sky above the pyramids of Egypt, November 26, 2021. /Sui Xiankai
China's space station flies across the sky above Kaifeng City, central China's Henan Province, November 25, 2021. /Zhang Yixiao
China's space station flies across the sky above National Stadium in Beijing, October 27, 2021. /Zhao Wei
China's space station flies across the sky above Lujiazui in Shanghai, October 31, 2021. /Sui Xin
China's space station flies across the sky above the Seventeen-Arch Bridge at the Summer Palace in Beijing, September 1, 2021. /Deng Zhong
China's space station flies across the sky above Dawenkou Site in east China's Shandong Province, March 7, 2022. /Li Peize
China's space station flies across the sky above the Horgos Port of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, January 12, 2022. /Lu Bin
China's space station flies across the Big Dipper, May 13, 2022. /Luo Shiyu
China's space station meets with a fire meteor when flying across the sky above Wenchang, south China's Hainan Province, July 25, 2022. /Dai Jianfeng
China's space station flies across the sky above Xilinhot in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, November 20, 2021. /User from Xinhua Agency app
China's space station meets with the International Space Station in the sky above Beijing Xishan National Forest Park. /Geng Xia
China's space station flies across the sky above the Old Town of Lijiang in southwest China's Yunnan Province, November 26, 2021. /Chen Bin
(CGTN's Wang Mengjie contributed to this story.)