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Earth observations taken from Space Shuttle Columbia during STS-78 mission
Summary
STS078-752-050 (20 June - 7 July 1996) --- A large portion of southeastern France is depicted in this view. The pictured area extends from the port of Marseilles northeastward over the Alps to Lake Geneva in the upper right hand corner. Marseilles is the second largest city proper (population in 1990 was 807,726) and the largest commercial seaport of France and since 1970 it has rivaled Rotterdam as a transit port for all of Europe. It is situated on the Mediterranean's Gulf of Lion within a semicircle of limestone hills. Settled by Greeks from Asia Minor during the 7th century BC, Marseilles is the oldest of France's major cities.
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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