Astronaut Dan Bursch, a member of the Expedition 4 crew on the International
Space Station, observed Mt. Everest in late March 2002. This detailed image of
Everest, the highest (29,035 feet, 8850 meters) mountain in the world, shows early
morning light on the eastern Kangshung Face. The mountains appear to jump out of
the picture because the image was taken with low sunlight using an electronic
still camera equipped with an 800 mm lens. Astronaut Bursch describes passing
over Mt. Everest as part of his 120-day report, which can be viewed at
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/crew/exp4/120days.html.
Other images of Everest can be viewed from an interactive tutorial, Find Mt.
Everest From Space (http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/education/Everest/default.htm). The tutorial features astronaut photographs of the Himalayas, interactive graphics
that illustrate key geographic features for locating Mt. Everest, and
information on the geology of the region. The lesson concludes with a test of
your ability to identify Everest in different photographs taken from the Space
Shuttle.
Astronaut image ISS004-E-8852 was taken on March 20, 2002, from the Space Station and was provided by the Earth Sciences and Image Analysis
Laboratory at Johnson Space Center.
Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the
NASA-JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth.