Earth from Space - Image Description

STS068-209-080 Bitterroot River Valley, Missoula, Montana, U.S.A. October 1994
Missoula, near the confluence of the Bitterroot River and the Clark Fork of the Columbia River, is barely visible in the center of this infrared, west-looking, low-oblique photograph. The city lies in the midst of five water valleys and is surrounded by rugged, forested mountains, including the rugged Bitterroot Range to the west and the Sapphire Mountains to the southeast. Missoula, in the middle of an extensive dairy and cattle area, is a commercial and medical center. Other industries include lumber, tourism, paper pulp production, and sugar refining. The University of Montana and the regional headquarters of the United States Forest Service are located in Missoula.

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