Auroras Across the Planet Are Concerning for ISS Astronauts, Forcing Them to Take Precautions

While people are gathering to experience the northern lights, astronauts are dreading it. The recent consecutive release of strong solar flares and G4 geomagnetic storms has produced stunning aurora borealis visuals across half of the U.S. But the astronauts stuck in the International Space Station received the short end of the stick. They were forced to rearrange their sleep arrangements as a preventative measure potential threat posed by the storms, as per Space.com. The space scientists on Earth gave instructions to the astronauts during a recent communication between ISS mission control and crew members on the space station. One operator spoke to NASA astronaut Mike Fincke over the comms channel to convey the message.  

"We entered into an energetic solar particle event this morning, and we're going to go in and out of holes of higher than the baseline [radiation] risk," the operator said. The three Russian scientists aboard the space station were instructed to spend a night in the ISS laboratory module. They were alerted to take an "abundance of caution" amid the sun's increased intense activities. However, all crew members were given the same instruction because ISS has enough defence systems to protect itself and the astronauts from any potential threat. The Russian cosmonauts, Oleg Platonov, Sergey Ryzhikov, and Alexey Zubritsky were asked to bunk someplace other than their usual quarters as a preventative measure. 

"The USOS crew slept in their crew quarters," Sandra Jones, a NASA public affairs official, told the outlet. "The Roscosmos cosmonauts camped out in the lab as a preventative measure due to the solar storm," she added. The base scientists also provided a list to the astronauts, which mentioned the places in the ISS that must be vacant during the solar storm events.

The three Russian astronauts are not the only ones aboard the space station for Expedition 73. Other crew members include NASA astronauts Mike Fincke, Jonny Kim, and Zena Cardman, as well as JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui. The latter four are aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft — launched on August 1 — and will remain there for another three months. The government shutdown had restricted several activities, including astronauts' public communication. 

But since the shutdown dissolved, the scientists hopped back onto their social media accounts to share more visuals from space. Astronaut Jonny Kim posted an earlier video on his X account, showing the stunning visuals of the aurora from space. The video captured a green hue covering the Earth's surface from a distance, like an energetic protective layer. "Aurora over North America. Sep 3, 2025," he captioned the post.

The geomagnetic storm took place after three coronal mass ejections (CMEs) directed towards our planet were launched from the sun. When these large expulsions of plasma and the Sun's magnetic field interact with Earth's magnetic field, a large disturbance is created, which eventually causes auroras to form. "When particles from space bombard gases in the atmosphere, they can give the atoms and molecules of the gases extra energy that’s released as tiny specks of light," as per NASA.

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