Earth from Space - Image Description

STS039-096-062 Puget Sound and Seattle/Tacoma Areas, Washington, U.S.A. May 1991
The areas of Seattle and Tacoma are the focus of this west-looking, low-oblique photograph. Tacoma, visible near the left center, is located on Puget Sound's Commencement Bay at the mouth of the Puyallup River. A major seaport and railroad terminus, the city is also one of the chief industrial cities of the Pacific Northwest, producing lumber, aluminum, candy, boats, and copper and wood products. It is home to several commercial fisheries and fish canneries and has a flourishing tourism industry. Seattle is visible near the right center of the photograph (see STS-036-152-013 for information about Seattle). Also discernible in this photograph are Puget Sound's Vashon Island, just west of Seattle; Bremerton and its naval shipyards; and the valleys of the Puyallup and Green Rivers. Not visible is Mount Rainier Volcano to the southeast whose eruption could result in the destruction of homes, businesses, and major transportation routes because of the debris from melted ice and snow cascading through these valleys.

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