Despite any political differences between the United States and Russia, the space agencies of the two countries continue their cooperative work in Earth's orbit, aboard the International Space Station. Apart from the research being done in microgravity, ISS crew members continue to send back amazing images of our home world, photographed from low Earth orbit. Gathered here are recent images of Earth from aboard the ISS, and from a handful of other NASA satellites.

A schoolgirl collects rubbish from Karachi's Clifton beach early morning April 22, 2013, during a cleaning campaign as part of the commemoration of Earth Day. (Photo by Akhtar Soomro/Reuters)

Yakutsk, a remote city in Eastern Siberia along the Lena River, is the coldest city in the world. Located 1840 km away from Irkoustk and 5000 km away from Moscow, this city founded in 1632 by the Cossacks imposes upon its inhabitants an extreme way of life. And yet, despite particularly harsh conditions, Yakutsk boasts a population of 270,000, or a quarter of the entire population of Siberia. No other place on the planet experiences the temperature extreme found here: in winter, the temperatures regularly fall to minus 40° (the coldest temperature recorded was –64°C) and in summer often reaches temperatures above 30°C. Photo: January 2013. A scene in Yakutsk, Siberia, the coldest city in the world. (Photo by Steeve Iuncker/Agence VU)

Mount Whaleback iron ore mine 23°21’32.3”S, 119°40’40.1”E. The Mount Whaleback Iron Ore Mine in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Roughly 98% of the world’s mined iron ore is used to make steel and is thus a significant component in the construction of buildings, automobiles, and appliances such as refrigerators. (Photo by Daily Overview/DigitalGlobe, a Maxar Company)

Ellora is an archaeological site, 29 km (18 mi) North-West of the city of Aurangabad in the Indian state of Maharashtra built by the Rashtrakuta dynasty. It is also known as Elapura (in the Rashtrakuta literature-Kannada).

Located in the Mokattam Mountain in southeastern Cairo, Egypt, the Monastery of Saint Simon or the Cave Church is a beautiful and mystical location. The area is also known under the name of the “garbage city” because of the large population of garbage collectors or Zabbaleen that live here and who are the descendants of farmers who started migrating from Upper Egypt to Cairo in the 1940s.

Actors perform the living Nativity biblical scenes in Postojna cave in Postojna, Slovenia, December 22, 2015. (Photo by Srdjan Zivulovic/Reuters)