Space Shuttle Views of Earth

First launched in 1981, the Space Shuttle fleet has made more than 100 trips and taken more than 500 people into space. In addition to carrying out such primary tasks as launching satellites, ferrying personnel and materials the Space Station and repairing the Hubble Telescope, crew members spend time observing and photographing Earth. Over a quarter of a million images of Earth taken by Space Shuttle Astronauts are now available on the Internet. These pages present a small fraction including many that were taken while the Shuttle was over Victoria, Australia.

Note: Shuttles usually "fly upside down" to give crews unobstructed views of Earth.

• Shuttle Images with Bendigo in the frame
  One hundred thousand people live in Bendigo. Surprisingly, it takes skill and experience to locate its position on most Shuttle images.
• Space Shuttle Images of Victoria
  About eighty images of Victoria taken during various Space Shuttle missions.
• Fitting an Image to a Map
  Images frequently have to be stretched to relate them to the same area on a map.
• Lake Hindmarsh at Full Resolution
  Most of the images displayed on these pages are quick loading browse images. More detail can be seen in full resolution images.
• Space Shuttle Mission Details
  Dates and orbit inclinations for Space Shuttle missions to June 1999. General details of orbits and ground tracks.
• Ultimate Field Trip
  An Astronaut writes about viewing the Earth from the Space Shuttle and some benefits of the Space Shuttle Earth Observation Program.
• Links to Image Source Sites
  Links to some sites at which these and more Space Shuttle images can be found.