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Earth observations taken from shuttle orbiter Discovery during STS-82 mission
Summary
STS082-710-028 (11-21 Feb. 1997) --- Southeastern Australia, looking southeast, from greater-than-usual altitudes: the view stretches from Lake Eyre (bottom right) -- which has an unusual amount of water after heavy rains in Australia's central desert -- all the way to Port Phillip Bay (top left) where the city of Melbourne is located. This view includes more than half of the state of South Australia (right), all of Victoria (top) and half of New South Wales. The boot-shaped peninsula top is the Yorke Peninsula, with Kangaroo Island beyond (south). Remnants of the dark green natural vegetation appear top left, most having been cleared for agriculture.
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.
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