Earth from Space - Image Description

STS61A-48-75 Houston, Texas, U.S.A. November 1985
Houston, the fourth most populous city in the United States and the third-busiest port in the United States, is featured in this southwest-looking, low-oblique photograph. Located 25 miles (40 kilometers) northwest of Galveston Bay (not visible) on the coastal plain, Houston is a great commercial, medical, financial, and industrial hub and is one of the world's major oil centers. Visible are sediment-laden Lake Houston, the source of much of Houston's drinking water; the runways of George Bush Intercontinental Airport west of the lake; and the small city of Alvin (upper left). Houston's continued growth began with the completion of the Houston Ship Channel in 1914.

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