yee@trident.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) (03/16/89)
Charles Redmond
NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C. March 14, 1989
James Hartsfield
Johnson Space Center, Houston
RELEASE: 89-
DISCOVERY'S RETURN-TO-FLIGHT PHOTOGRAPHS RECORD MANY FIRSTS
Earth observation photographs taken by Discovery's crew
during America's return to piloted space flight in 1988 were
among the clearest in more than 20 years, and they captured a
variety of environmental conditions.
Included in the astronauts' photography from the September
1988 mission is a photograph showing at least a 1 million square-
mile smoke cloud over South America's Amazon River basin and, in
Africa, evidence of flooding in areas that have experienced a
lengthy drought.
Due to an unexpected improvement in atmospheric clarity over
the Northern Hemisphere, the Discovery crew could distinguish
ground details about 700 miles away from their spacecraft, much
farther than has been normal for Space Shuttle flights.
Visibility over the Northern Hemisphere during STS-26 was the
best since the 1960s Gemini Program flights.
In total, the crew took 1,505 photographs of Earth during
the 4-day mission. Discovery was launched into an orbit that
kept it above only the tropical and subtropical regions of
Earth. That orbit took the spacecraft over about half of Earth's
surface, covering parts of 122 nations and regions that hold
about 75 percent of the world's population.
Photographs show a dense, white smoke cloud, the result of
tropical forest, pasture and croplands being cleared and burned,
completely obscuring the ground over much of South America's
Amazon River basin. If placed over the United States, the same
cloud would cover an area of the country more than three times
the size of Texas.
It is the largest and thickest accumulation of smoke ever
photographed by astronauts, much larger than the previous largest
smoke cloud photographed by astronauts over the same region in
1984.
STS-26 also photographed smoke clouds over Sumatra and
Borneo, Indonesia, Madagascar, eastern Africa, northern Australia
and Bolivia. Some photographs show apparent irrigation features
in the tropics -- in areas that normally receive 100 inches of
annual rainfall.
In Africa, the "green line" of vegetation that generally
marks the southern boundary of the Sahara Desert had moved the
farthest north it has been in astronaut photography since 1965.
Also, standing water was photographed in the Sahara.
For the first time in Shuttle history, Africa's Niger river
was photographed in full flood and out of its banks. Photographs
of the Blue and White Nile rivers also showed evidence of recent
flooding.
Throughout eastern Africa, the landscape was tinted with
green, a condition never before seen in this region during the
Shuttle program. Still, Africa's Lake Chad and Lake Nasser, two
lakes that have long been studied by space photography, were at
the lowest levels ever photographed by astronauts. Since 1960,
Lake Chad's surface area is estimated to have declined by more
than 90 percent.
The extreme atmospheric clarity over the Northern Hemisphere
during the mission was due, at least in part, to the absence of
major global duststorms. Duststorms of million-square mile
dimensions over northern Africa, even extending halfway across
the Atlantic Ocean, were photographed during 1984 and 1985
Shuttle flights. But no such African duststorms were seen during
STS-26, nor were major duststorms observed elsewhere.
A lack of recent major volcanic eruptions, which cause dust
in the upper atmosphere, also may have contributed to the extreme
clarity.
As a result, the STS-26 photographs captured details not
usually seen in Shuttle photography: for the first time, an
aircraft was photographed generating a contrail; individual
buildings could be seen in the Canary Islands; a line of
electrical transmission pylons was seen in southern Sudan; and
oil platform flares were seen in the Gulf of Campeche. STS-26
also photographed the effects of Hurricane Gilbert on the Mexican
Gulf Coast and five volcanoes with signs of eruptive activity.
Earth photography from the Space Shuttle is managed by the
Space Shuttle Earth Observations Office at the Johnson Space
Center. The office trains Shuttle crews in Earth photography,
selects targets for photography for each mission and analyzes the
resulting photographs. In addition, research is conducted by
specialists in environmental sciences, biology, climatology,
geology and other fields using data obtained with Shuttle
photography.dkrause@orion.cf.uci.edu (Doug Krause) (03/16/89)
In article <22768@ames.arc.nasa.gov> yee@trident.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) writes: > As a result, the STS-26 photographs captured details not >usually seen in Shuttle photography: for the first time, an >aircraft was photographed generating a contrail; individual >buildings could be seen in the Canary Islands; a line of >electrical transmission pylons was seen in southern Sudan; and >oil platform flares were seen in the Gulf of Campeche. Could these be seen without the cameras? I ask because we've all been told that the Great Wall is the only manmade object visible from space. Douglas Krause "You can't legislate morality" -George Bush --------------------------------------------------------------------- University of California, Irvine ARPANET: dkrause@orion.cf.uci.edu Welcome to Irvine, Yuppieland USA BITNET: DJKrause@ucivmsa