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Browse All : International Space Station (ISS) and FAST
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Description
KSC-01PP-1284 (12 July 2001) --- Like a sun on a fast rise, Space Shuttle Atlantis arcs into the still-black sky over the Atlantic Ocean, casting a fiery glow on its way. Atlantis lifted off from Launch Pad 39B on time at 5:03:59 a.m. EDT. With a crew of five it is heading on the 10th assembly flight to the International Space Station. The primary payload on the mission is the joint airlock module, which will require two spacewalks to attach it to the Space Station. The airlock will be the primary path for Space Station spacewalk entry and departure for U.S. spacesuits, and will also support the Russian Orlan spacesuit for EVA activity.
Description
ISS015-E-10118 (30 May 2007) --- A close-up view of an area of an iceberg in the South Atlantic Ocean is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 15 crewmember on the International Space Station. This iceberg illustrates the remains of a giant iceberg -- designated A22A that broke off Antarctica in 2002. This is one of the largest icebergs to drift as far north as 50 degrees south latitude, bringing it beneath the daylight path of the station. Crewmembers aboard the orbital complex were able to locate the ice mass and photograph it, despite great cloud masses of winter storms in the Southern Ocean. Dimensions of A22A in early June were 49.9 x 23.4 kilometers, giving it an area of 622 square kilometers, or seven times the area of Manhattan Island. Once the station crew had located the iceberg, they managed to image it successfully with the "long" 800-mm lens. Handling the longer lens requires practice: with the speed of movement of the spacecraft and the length of the lens, it is necessary to "track" the target, which is, swinging the camera slowly to keep the target in the middle of the view finder. If you track too slowly or too fast, the image looks smeared. As in this image, the long lens only shows a small part of the iceberg. A series of parallel lines, termed "hummocks", can be seen. These hummocks are probably dunes of snow that have become solidified, and date back to the time when the iceberg was connected to Antarctica. A developing fracture in the ice is also visible at upper left.
Description
ISS013-E-65526 (8 Aug. 2006) --- Issaouane Dune Sea, Eastern Algeria is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 13 crewmember on the International Space Station. This view from one of the smaller dune seas in the central Sahara shows the complex but regular patterns produced by winds in deserts where abundant sand is available. Geologists now know that dune seas (also called ergs) comprise at least three orders of dune size. In this image the largest and oldest appear here as chains oriented about 60 degrees apart, that is, one oriented almost north-south, the other southwest-northeast. The "streets" between the dune chains (also called mega-dunes) are swept clean of sand in places, revealing the original surface, with light colored muds and salt derived from very occasional rains. The chains have probably taken hundreds of thousands of years to accumulate, starting when the Sahara began to become significantly dry roughly 2.5 million years ago. Rivers became smaller, failed to reach the sea and deposited their sand load in the desert. Wind did the rest, blowing the sand into aerodynamic dune forms. According to scientists, chain trends coincide with two of the four major trends identified in the Great Eastern Sand Sea immediately to the north. Each trend likely implies a different formative wind direction--attesting to the climate shifts that have occurred since sand began to accumulate in the central Sahara. Smaller dunes are superimposed on the mega-dunes. Sinuous crest lines are the mesoscale (intermediate in size) forms, forming octopus-like crests, especially evident as the arms of star dunes. Whereas the mega-dunes are apparently stationary, studies based on aerial photographs in other parts of the world show that these dune crests move in the course of decades. The smallest dunes appear in patches on the eastern sides of the mega-dunes as a tracery of closely spaced crests. Small dunes move fast and reform quickly as stronger winds shift with the seasons. Sand grains are blown continuously from upwind dunes, across the dune-free flats. Small dunes form when the grains slow down and accumulate at the next large dune. The small dunes ride up and over the backs of the mega- and meso-dunes. Interestingly the crest orientation of the small dunes is different from that of the mesoscale dunes throughout the image. This is a common effect of wind direction shifting locally depending on dune height: the increased friction caused by larger dunes causes formative winds to blow to the left of the (weaker) winds that form the small dunes. The friction effect of larger dunes is to the right in the southern hemisphere, well illustrated on the coast of the Namib Desert.
Description
ISS008-E-19236 (25 March 2004) --- This image featuring the Betsiboka estuary on the northwest coast of Madagascar was taken by an Expedition 8 crewmember on the International Space Station (ISS). The Betsiboka estuary is the mouth of Madagascar?s largest river and one of the world?s fast-changing coastlines. Nearly a century of extensive logging of Madagascar?s rainforests and coastal mangroves has resulted in nearly complete clearing of the land and fantastic rates of erosion. After every heavy rain, the bright red soils are washed from the hillsides into the streams and rivers to the coast. Astronauts describe their view of Madagascar as ?bleeding into the ocean?. One impact of the extensive 20th century erosion is the filling and clogging of coastal waterways with sediment ? a process that is well illustrated in the Betsiboka estuary. In fact, ocean-going ships were once able to travel up the Betsiboka estuary, but must now berth at the coast.
Description
ISS008-E-19233 (25 March 2004) --- This image featuring the Betsiboka estuary on the northwest coast of Madagascar was taken by an Expedition 8 crewmember on the International Space Station (ISS). The Betsiboka estuary is the mouth of Madagascar?s largest river and one of the world?s fast-changing coastlines. Nearly a century of extensive logging of Madagascar?s rainforests and coastal mangroves has resulted in nearly complete clearing of the land and fantastic rates of erosion. After every heavy rain, the bright red soils are washed from the hillsides into the streams and rivers to the coast. Astronauts describe their view of Madagascar as ?bleeding into the ocean?. One impact of the extensive 20th century erosion is the filling and clogging of coastal waterways with sediment ? a process that is well illustrated in the Betsiboka estuary. In fact, ocean-going ships were once able to travel up the Betsiboka estuary, but must now berth at the coast.
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