An astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) took this photo of the Gulf Coast of Texas. The field of view is about the same as what astronauts see with their eyes from station windows. The photo centers in Houston, home of the NASA Johnson Space Center, where astronauts live and practice. They receive part of their training from the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, which works with them to achieve the diverse scientific objectives of astronaut photography of the earth.
On the Texas coast are long, narrow barrier islands that create protective bays between the Gulf of Mexico and the mainland. The Gulf Coast region is a hub for oil and gas drilling and related infrastructure abroad. Channels between the barrier islands allow ships to bring crude petroleum products to ports and refineries along the bays – especially Corpus Christi, Houston and Beaumont.
East of Houston, pine forests and swamps dominate the coastal landscape. Several artificial reservoirs were built to seize rivers in the direction of the coast. The greater Houston area depends on nearby reservoirs such as Lake Livingston for the water supply. Although groundwater exists in aquifers below Houston, restrictions on groundwater exploitation have been put in place to reduce land subsidence in the region.
West and northwest of Houston, the cities of San Antonio and Austin border a central geographic region in Texas called the Edwards Plateau. The region shows changes in topography, geology, ecology and climate from flat and moist coastal wetlands to rocky hills with woodland (dark green in the image). The area is known in the region as the Texas Hill Country.
Aerial photo ISS064-E-15994 was obtained on December 25, 2020 with a Nikon D5 digital camera with a 24 millimeter lens and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Johnson Space Center. The photo was taken by a member of the crew of Expedition 64. The image was cropped and enhanced to enhance contrast, and lens artifacts were removed. The International Space Station program supports the laboratory as part of the ISS National Lab to help astronauts take photographs of the earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make the images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA / JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth. Caption by Andrea Meado, Jacobs, JETS contract at NASA-JSC.