Mt. Kilimanjaro’s Receding Glaciers

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Mt. Kilimanjaro (Tanzania), the highest point in all Africa, was photographed by the crew of Space Shuttle mission STS-97 on December 2, 2000 (STS097-701-17). Kilimanjaro (Kilima Njaro or "shining mountain" in Swahili) is capped by glaciers on its southern and southwestern flanks.

The glaciers and snow cap covered a far greater area ten years prior to the view above. Compare the photograph above with a photograph of Kilimanjaro taken in November 1990 by the Space Shuttle mission STS-38 crew.

Shuttle photograph provided by the Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space Center. Additional photographs taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed via the NASA — JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth.

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