Hurricane Ivan fills the northern Gulf of Mexico in this photo taken by astronaut Edward M. Mike Fincke.

Hurricane Ivan fills the northern Gulf of Mexico in this photo taken by astronaut Edward M. (Mike) Fincke as the storm approached landfall on the Alabama coast Wednesday afternoon (21:59:36 GMT, Sept. 15). Ivan was reported to have sustained winds of 135 mph. This photo was taken from an altitude of about 230 miles. Fincke, the NASA ISS Science Officer, and Commander Gennady Padalka are nearing the end of a six-month mission aboard the research outpost.