Earth from Space - Image Description

STS036-152-112 Des Moines and Ames, Iowa, U.S.A. March 1990
Visible in this north-looking, low-oblique photograph are partially ice-covered, blue Saylorville Reservoir north of Des Moines, the capital of Iowa, the state with 25 percent of the highest grade topsoil in the United States. With more than 90 percent of its land devoted to agriculture, Iowa, in the center of the corn belt, ranks second only to California in cash farm income. Discernible south-southwest of the city are the runways of Des Moines International Airport. To the north on the Skunk River is Ames, a major manufacturing center for electronic equipment and water analysis and treatment equipment.

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