The photo was taken just a few days ago by astronauts aboard the ISS

Aug 1, 2014 22:05 GMT  ·  By

It pains me to say this (more than you could even begin to imagine, I might add), but, unfortunately, most of us will probably never get to see for ourselves what our planet looks like when observed from space.

Unless scientists soon get their act together and start work on building a massive trampoline that, given the right bouncing angles, might send us all on a journey to hundreds of feet above the Earth's surface, that is.

I don't know about you, but I for one am pretty sure that it will be a while until one such trampoline is built. Hence, I suppose we will just have to settle for the next best thing.

Otherwise put, spend minutes on end staring at photos taken by folks who have had the chance to look down at our planet from high in the skies. Folks like the astronauts aboard the International Space Station.

The photo above was taken by the Station's Expedition 40 crew members, and it shows the entire Iberian Peninsula as seen from space in the early hours of the evening.

The photo was taken this past July 26 and posted on Facebook only a few hours ago. It has until now received over 14,000 likes, and has been shared over 3,000 times.

“Pictures of Earth, never cease to amaze me. I love this planet. Thank you NASA,” one comment reads. “SOOOO amazing! Thanks for sharing. Hopefully, in my lifetime I can be up there looking down one earth...” another one says.