Weather satellites takes photographs of earth's weather both in the visible and infrared bands. The US has two geostationary meteorological spacecraft in operation: GOES-11 and GOES-12. The Europe...
A few minutes, in a rocket. "Space" is normally defined as an altitude of about 100 km. or so - at that altitude, the Earth's atmosphere becomes insignificant.
Are you driving or walking? If driving and assuming 60 km/h, then a long time. If walking, then it will take A LONG time. And if you're waiting for something from the public transit authority, you...