ISS008-E-13212 Click the photo number to access all resolutions available and the database record.
The Rio Grande can be seen meandering through the area, forming the boundary between the sister cities of El Paso, Texas and Juárez, Chihuahua. North is to the right in this image, and the setting sun has cast the east side of the Sierra Juárez and Franklin Mountains into shadow.
Photographs of Earth are a concrete way for astronauts to share their observations and experience in orbit with the public. Scientists integrate them with a variety of other remote sensing data in their Earth science research. The record of astronaut photography of Earth starts over 40 years ago with the first human spaceflights and represents the longest continuous record of the state of the planet as observed from orbit.
