#internationalspacestation – by @danleppold on Instagram
My students were able to program and take pictures of our planet using a camera mounted in the window of the International Space Station and a few days ago we were able to get this great picture of the shrinking Aral Sea near the border of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The sea has been disappearing due to the diversion of streams in the area (and probably a little climate change). Recently efforts have been made to send runoff back into the sea and water levels have risen and salinity levels have dropped. Thank you NASA for this opportunity to explore our world and good job Shriya for taking the time to closely examine the Space Station orbit groundtracks and program the camera to snap this pic as the Space Station whizzed by at 17,150 mph. Who knows, it may be gone soon!