Earth from Space - Image Description

STS078-754-079 Mississippi River, Memphis, Tennessee June, 1996
One of the leading cities of the American south and a major river port on the Mississippi River, the city of Memphis is visible in this west-looking view. The Mississippi, the third largest river system in the world, traverses the image from the center right (north) to the upper left (south-southwest). Memphis is located on Chickasaw Bluff on the Mississippi River's east bank. The city was established in 1819 and given its name by Andrew Jackson. The runways of Memphis International Airport are discernible near the center of the image. Midway between the center left and upper left of the image are the silted waters of Lake Arkabotla in northwestern Mississippi. The intensive agricultural fields of the Mississippi River Floodplain in eastern Arkansas can be seen in the upper right portion of the image.

This service is provided by the International Space Station program and the JSC Earth Science & Remote Sensing Unit, ARES Division, Exploration Integration Science Directorate.