Astana is the capital and second largest city of Kazakhstan, with a population of about 600,000. It was founded as a fort in 1824 on the Ishim River by Siberian Cossacks, and became a railway junction in the early 20th century. Astana became the capital of the newly-independent Kazakhstan in 1997.

These two images were acquired March 20, 2001 and September 5, 2003, cover an area of 22.5 x 24 km, and are located near 51.2 degrees north latitude, 71.4 degrees east longitude.

The U.S. science team is located at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. The Terra mission is part of NASA's Science Mission Directorate.