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WATCH: International Space Station Flies Over 3 Hurricanes

Hurricanes Lester, Madeline and Gaston (from left to right) are seen from the International Space Station on Aug. 30.
NASA Johnson YouTube/NASA composite
Hurricanes Lester, Madeline and Gaston (from left to right) are seen from the International Space Station on Aug. 30.

Residents of Hawaii are keeping a close eye on two hurricanes in the Pacific, Madeline and Lester.

And astronauts have been watching the storms, too — from a different angle.

On Tuesday, the International Space Station caught a spectacular view of both storms, as well as a powerful hurricane in the Atlantic.

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The strongest storm in the video is Gaston, currently passing through the open ocean far from land. It's a Category 3 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 120 miles per hour.

The two storms in the Pacific are more worrying for earth-dwellers. Madeline, a Category 1, is expected to pass just south of Hawaii's big island before dawn on Thursday, the Central Pacific Hurricane Center says.

Residents are concerned about the risk of flooding, Bill Dorman of Hawaii Public Radio tells our Newscast unit.

Hurricane Lester — also a Category 1, currently located more than a thousand miles east of Hawaii — might threaten the islands by this weekend, though it may have weakened to a tropical storm by then.

Also on Tuesday, NASA released an animation of satellite images showing the two storms forming and swirling in the Pacific.

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Meanwhile, back in the Atlantic, another storm is brewing in the Gulf of Mexico: Tropical Depression 9, which is expected to strengthen and may threaten the Florida coast, the National Hurricane Center says.

Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.