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.

Jimmy Arnold, an overweight boy from Rochester, bites into a cake. (Photo by Reg Birkett/Keystone/Getty Images). 14th April 1951

Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. walks near the Lunar Module during the Apollo 11 extravehicular activity July 20, 1969 on the Moon. (Photo by NASA/Newsmakers)

“The Zulu are the largest South African ethnic group, with an estimated 10–11 million people living mainly in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. Small numbers also live in Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Mozambique. Their language, Zulu, is a Bantu language; more specifically, part of the Nguni subgroup. The Zulu Kingdom played a major role in South African history during the 19th and 20th centuries. Under apartheid, Zulu people were classed as third-class citizens and suffered from state-sanctioned discrimination. They remain today the most numerous ethnic group in South Africa, and now have equal rights along with all other citizens”. – Wikipedia.

Photo: A Zulu woman playing the piano while a group of others sit and listen (to put it briefly, Englishmen scoff over Zulu). South Africa, circa 1925. (Photo by General Photographic Agency)

The shadow of a partial eclipse is cast on to the cheek of a student on the roof of the Jana Dlugosza Academy in Czestochowa, Poland March 20, 2015. (Photo by Grzegorz Skowronek/Reuters/Agencja Gazeta)

The British Breitling Wingwalkers, Danielle Hughes and Emily Guilding, soar above the Palm Jumeirah in Dubai at 1,500 feet (460 meters) in excess of 100mp/h, ahead of their Dubai debut performance at the 2014 UIM Skydive Dubai XCAT World Powerboating Series, on Saturday, 13th December 2014. The British team is the only aerobatic formation display team who employ full time wingwalkers and fly their two Breitling-liveried 1930's Boeing Stearman bi-planes at Air Shows and major sporting events around the world. (Photo by Katsuhiko Tokunaga/Breitling via AP Images)

A man dressed as a Santa Claus poses at the front of the Kollhoff Tower at Potsdamer Platz square in Berlin December 14, 2014. (Photo by Hannibal Hanschke/Reuters)

Undated handout photo of Buckbeak, a Hippogriff that lived with Rubeus Hagrid in the Harry Potter series, has his feathers preened and replenished by featherologist Val Jones, as he will feature in the the Feathers and Flight event at Warner Bros. Studio Tour London. This is the first make-over Buckbeak has received since the hugely popular Harry Potter film series was made. His intricate coat is created from thousands of individually airbrushed chicken and goose feathers that Val will carefully clean and replenish in time for the start of Feathers and Flight. Val will lead an expert team to demonstrate the techniques that made winged wonders such as Buckbeak and Fawkes the Phoenix a reality on screen. (Photo by Tim Anderson/PA Wire)