Similar
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Various ship-building related objects IV754
Related
Earth observation taken during STS-98 mission
Earth observation taken during STS-98 mission
Earth observation taken during STS-98 mission
Earth observation taken during STS-98 mission
Earth observations taken during STS-98 mission
Earth observations taken during STS-98 mission
Earth observation taken during STS-98 mission
Earth observations taken during STS-98 mission
Earth observations taken during STS-98 mission
Earth observation taken during STS-98 mission
Summary
STS098-382-0014 (7-20 February 2001) City Lights of the Northeastern Seaboard of the U.S. were captured with a 35mm camera by one of the STS-98 astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis. The nighttime scene shows the bright lights of several major cities that span a distance from Connecticut (left middle) to states south of Virginia (right middle). Lights from both very large urban areas as well as smaller towns and cities are visible. The largest cluster of brightness emanates from the greater New York metropolitan area (left center) and then a series of bright spots progress southwesterly to include Philadelphia (PA), Baltimore (MD), Washington (D.C.), Richmond (VA), and finally ending with the Newport News/ Norfolk (VA) lights (top center). Many of the major ground transportation arteries can be seen as radial, linear features that radiate outward from the central business districts of the cities. Even the lights of smaller cities such as Allentown, Reading, Lancaster, York, and Harrisburg (PA) are visible (bottom center).
The Space Shuttle program was the United States government's manned launch vehicle program from 1981 to 2011, administered by NASA and officially beginning in 1972. The Space Shuttle system—composed of an orbiter launched with two reusable solid rocket boosters and a disposable external fuel tank— carried up to eight astronauts and up to 50,000 lb (23,000 kg) of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO). When its mission was complete, the orbiter would re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and lands as a glider. Although the concept had been explored since the late 1960s, the program formally commenced in 1972 and was the focus of NASA's manned operations after the final Apollo and Skylab flights in the mid-1970s. It started with the launch of the first shuttle Columbia on April 12, 1981, on STS-1. and finished with its last mission, STS-135 flown by Atlantis, in July 2011.