Can I use footage of Earth from the ISS in a commercial video?

Footage shot by NASA from the space station is generally not copyrighted in the US and may be used commercially with credit to NASA, provided you don't imply NASA's endorsement.

Are rotating Earth clips real footage?

Usually not: most are visualisations built from satellite imagery. That is no problem for b-roll, but don't present one as a photo taken at a particular moment.

Space and science footage

Earth from space videos: orbit views and globes

Free videos of Earth from space: views from the space station, rotating globes, night lights, weather and auroras from NASA, with credit lines ready.

Clips: 36 clips
Sources: from 3 sources
1080p or better: 7 in 1080p or better
Cleared for commercial use: 27 cleared for commercial use
Editorial use only: 23 editorial-only
Direct downloads: 36 with direct download
Updated: October 28, 2026

Search live for “earth”Use it from code or an agent

Picked automatically from a live search of 23 sites and refreshed daily. Hover a clip to preview it; posters and previews load straight from the source, never through this site. Each clip belongs to its creator: check its licence on the source page before you publish.

The planet as b-roll

Few shots establish “global” faster than Earth seen from orbit: a slow pass over clouds and coastlines, city lights at night, an aurora shimmering over the pole, a rotating globe behind a title. These clips come mostly from NASA, from cameras on the International Space Station and from visualisations built on satellite data.

Real footage and visualisations

Footage filmed from the space station shows the real view, often as timelapse sequences. Rotating globes, weather and climate animations are visualisations: accurate renderings of data rather than single camera shots. Both are free to use with credit to NASA. Visualisations from the Scientific Visualization Studio come in 1080p and 4K, some at 60 fps.

Open any clip for its renditions and the credit line; hover to preview it straight from the source.

Where these come from

Licences

Public domain: 16
NASA media (public domain in the US): 14
CC0 1.0: 2
CC BY-SA 4.0: 2
CC BY 2.5: 1
CC BY 2.0: 1

CC0 and public domain: commercial use, no credit needed. CC BY and NASA media need a credit line; editorial clips are not for ads. Video licences explained

Guides

From code or an agent

The same search over the REST API:

curl "https://video.shep.bot/v1/search?q=earth&category=space.earth"

Or give your AI agent the MCP server https://video.shep.bot/mcp and ask for “earth”. Setup

Questions

Can I use footage of Earth from the ISS in a commercial video?: Footage shot by NASA from the space station is generally not copyrighted in the US and may be used commercially with credit to NASA, provided you don't imply NASA's endorsement.
Are rotating Earth clips real footage?: Usually not: most are visualisations built from satellite imagery. That is no problem for b-roll, but don't present one as a photo taken at a particular moment.

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