tst.py

import os
import fitsio
import numpy as np

R,C = 3,2
A = np.arange(6).reshape((R,C))
print 'A'
print A

ar = []
ac = []
for r in range(R):   
    ar.append(A[r,:])
for c in range(C):   
    ac.append(A[:,c])

print 'ar'
print ar
print 'ac'
print ac

AR = np.array(ar)  
AC = np.array(ac).T

print 'AR'
print AR
print AR.flags

print 'AC'
print AC
print AC.flags

assert(np.all(A == AR))
assert(np.all(A == AC))

fn = 'tst.fits'
if os.path.exists(fn):
  os.unlink(fn)
fitsio.FITS(fn, 'rw').write([A, AR, AC], names=['A','AR','AC'])

F = fitsio.FITS(fn)
data = F[1].read()
rA = data['A']
rAR = data['AR']
rAC = data['AC']

print 'Read A'
print rA
print 'Read AR'
print rAR
print 'Read AC'
print rAC

assert(np.all(A == rA))
assert(np.all(AR == rAR))
assert(np.all(AC == rAC))