PEOPLE AND PLACES

PEOPLE AND PLACES

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Whose Country is It?

Unknown Birth of the American flag 1915

Hold on tight
To the place inside where the candle burns
And tend to the flame
Then it will always light your way
The vision seen
Was more than just a dream
And the truth will shine
Even through the darkest night

Samuel H. Gottscho May the good lord shine a light on you December 15, 1931
River House, 52nd Street and East River. Parapet, 27th floor, New York

 

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Whose Country is It?

 

When Harry Potter was just a toddler October 1935
Girls outside movie house in Amite City, Louisiana

And now our government

a bird with two right wings flies on from zone to zone
while we go on having our little fun & games at each election
as if it really mattered who the pilot is of Air Force One
(They're interchangeable, stupid!)
While this bird with two right wings
flies right on with its corporate flight crew
And this year its the Great Movie Cowboy in the cockpit
And next year its the great Bush pilot
And now its the Chameleon Kid
and he keeps changing the logo on his captains cap
and now its a donkey and now an elephant
and now some kind of donkephant
And now we recognize two of the crew
who took out a contract on America
and one is a certain gringo wretch
who's busy monkey wrenching
crucial parts of the engine
and its life-support systems
and they got a big fat hose
to siphon off the fuel to privatized tanks
And all the while we just sit there
in the passenger seats without parachutes
listening to all the news that's fit to air
over the one-way PA system
about how the contract on America
is really good for us etcetera
As all the while the plane lumbers on
into its postmodern manifest destiny

 

We have lived through a time of unprecedented affluence, and we have seen it as normal, and told ourselves we deserved all of it, that we are entitled to what it has given us. But it's over, and it will be no more, nor will it ever return in our lifetimes. If we are to live in a functioning society in the years to come, we will have to share much of our riches, and we will have to find out how to be fulfilled with much less material wealth. If we don't, our societies will collapse, and we will lose that wealth regardless. But looking around me, I see little hope that we will do all these things before it's too late. It you don't volunteer to share, the difference in wealth between you and your own children’s generation will become so glaring that they will come and take it away from you.
An era is over. We have been the last of the affluent, the carefree and the innocent. Not that we're really all that innocent, mind you, it was all just pretense all the way, many millions of people have died for our affluence. We just never told ourselves their life stories. They will be our stories soon.
Are you now ready to fight in the streets, to protect your family, to share your meal with the hungry? It’s not about being a leftie, or a softie, and I certainly am neither. It’s about survival. It’s about being smart enough to read the world you live in. The model of the nuclear family will die with the affluence. It’s never been but an aberration. You will, like your ancestors before you, need your family, your friends, and your neighbors.

Them's Fighting Words

The most remarkable thing about civil unrest is that there hasn’t been more of it. Politicians are making a hash of this country-and much of the rest of the civilized world. We know it. They know it. They know we know it. But we don’t feel we can do anything much to stop them.

That right there is the pre-condition for civil unrest-when people are frustrated and politicians are nervous.

Worse, that was how things stood before last fall’s crash. Before pols on both left and right launched the biggest mass transfer of wealth in history-transferring our wealth (what we had left of it!) to their friends on Wall Street and in the banking industry. In other words, that’s how things were before things got bad!

Now everybody’s talking about the ongoing catastrophe (even if we are in a momentarily sunny mood). But almost nobody is talking about the logical-maybe even inevitable-consequences of cynical or desperate politicians abusing an already fed-up populace: civil unrest.

I mean people taking to the streets. Or mass resistance. Or crackdowns because the government fears we might do something to upset its apple cart. It’s going to happen. Somewhere. At some time. It’s going to.

Don’t fall into foolish complacency. We who live in the country tend to have an “it can’t happen here” attitude toward political violence or social upheaval. We see those things as urban phenomenon. And mostly, they are. But there’s no ironclad rule that says they have to be. If anything disrupts the supply chain, for instance, rural areas could be the first to be cut off from food, medicines, fuel, or other necessities. If government breaks down to the point where it can’t deliver food stamps, housing vouchers, social security, or bureaucrats’ pay, the rural poor and unemployed could become just as restive as their urban counterparts.  

 

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Class of 1966,

Some may wonder or doubt historical account the soldiers of the revolutionary army under George Washington endured hunger, lack of supplies, a bitter Winter and then crossed the Delaware River in the night from Pennsylvania on Christmas Eve then marched to Trenton to fight and defeat the mercenary Hessian army of the British. What drove those men to endure such hardship? Many could have left because their enlistments were over; yet they went on to fight. The answer is hardly mentioned in history books. Their will to fight was hardened by their hatred  of the English!  A third of the army were Irish and a third were Scotish.

When Henry VIII separated from Rome and formed the Church Of England persecution of the Irish began. It ended with Ireland becoming a colony of England. The Irish Revolution about one hundred years ago made most of Ireland independent with the exception of six counties now called Northern Ireland. These counties are still ruled by England. All the sectarian fighting for the last hundred years were about the return of these counties to Ireland.

Mary, Queen of Scots, was imprisoned and executed by her cousin Elizabeth I of England. Disagreement on who is the rightful heir to the throne of England was the issue. Supporters of Mary were stripped of their lands and were given the choice of staying in Scotland landless or go to Ireland to administer confiscated Irish lands. Some went to Ireland; which explains the presence Scotish names in the country today.

England holds on to Gilbraltar(it belongs to Spain) and the Falkland Islands(Malvinias, they belong to Argentina). In 1997, Hong Kong was returned to China after England took possession of the territory for a 99-year occupation after the last Opium War. It had to return Hong Kong or else millions of Chinese soldiers will overrun the British.

The best colony of England today was colonized in 1913 with the creation of the Federal Reserve Bank; owned and controlled by the Rothchilds and the Windsors.

Rene

 

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The Radical Takeover

The most sweeping takeover of the new millennium didn’t take place among the telecoms or the big oil companies, or in Silicon Valley. It took place in Washington, but we can see and hear and feel its effects nationwide on our televisions, radios, and computer screens. And America is much the worse because of it. I’m talking about the takeover of the Republican Party by its own lunatic fringe, and the Right’s hijacking of America.

Ronald Reagan’s GOP has been replaced by the dark, moldering, putrefied party of Bush, Cheney, Rove, Limbaugh, and Coulter. Morning in America has given way to Midnight in America.

Yes, the Republican Party has always had its far-right cowboys, its Jesse Helmses and Spiro Agnews. Yet they were removed from the party’s more sober core.

But these days, judging by the opinions and actions of the Republicans in office and the party’s candidates for president, it has become impossible to tell where this core stops and the fanatical fringe begins. Just look at what the party is endorsing.

We have a Republican Party that continues to back the White House’s delusions about Iraq at the expense of our military, our treasure, our safety, and our standing in the world.

We have a mainstream on the Right that supports torture, that confirmed an attorney general nominee who is officially agnostic on torture, and that rallies behind a president who refuses to define what the very word "torture" means.

We have a mainstream that supports — even applauds — the behavior of thuggish Blackwater mercenaries, that supports the gutting of our civil liberties, that opposes universal health care, and that has views on immigration that wouldn’t have been heard outside a John Birch Society meeting ten years ago.

It can no longer be denied: The right-wing lunatics are running the Republican asylum, and their madness has infected the entire country and poisoned the world beyond.

And just look who the GOP settled on as its 2008 standard-bearer: the most hawkish candidate in the running, who has said he wants the United States to stay in Iraq somewhere between one hundred years and ten thousand years — John McCain.

Despite an avalanche of evidence showing that McCain the Maverick has long ago been replaced by McCain the Pandering Pawn of the Party’s Right Wing, the press refuses to believe its own eyes. Right Is Wrong will show how the "Straight Talk Express" and its conductor have completely and cravenly gone off the tracks — and how the media steadfastly refuse to notice.

Even those bastions of the so-called liberal media, the New Yorker and the New York Times, have continued to portray McCain as a moderate who, in the words of New Yorker writer Ryan Lizza, has "the rare opportunity to reinvent what it means to be a Republican."

Let’s see, over the last few years McCain has bowed to the party’s lunatic fringe on tax cuts, immigration, the intolerance of religious bigots, and torture … so you might wonder how is he reinventing what it means to be a Republican?

During the primary campaign, I waited in vain for one of the leading GOP presidential candidates to step away from the twitchy ideologues who have taken over their party, but instead they all held hands with Kristol, Rove, and Limbaugh and jumped. To a man, every one of the top-tier candidates — Giuliani, Romney, McCain, Thompson, and Huckabee — seemed intent on competing to see who could out-Bush Bush. Not a single one of them tried to put any distance between himself and the president — especially on foreign policy, the area of Bush’s most catastrophic errors. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee made a halfhearted attempt to speak out against an "arrogant bunker mentality" at one point and was called out by Mitt Romney to apologize. Huckabee promptly shut up, putting an end to any further rebellious attempts to amble off the reservation. As conservative pundit George F. Will put it, "They are, if anything, to the right of (Bush) on foreign policy. There’s a bidding war to see who can be more hawkish toward Iran."

The reign of Bush and Cheney and the rise of the neocons and the "nea-cons" (the "Neanderthal conservatives") have alienated traditional conservative intellectuals like they have Bill Buckley, the godfather of modern conservatism. In April of 2007, writing about Iraq, Buckley called public opinion on the war "savagely decisive" and concluded, "There are grounds for wondering whether the Republican Party will survive this dilemma."

And Michael Gerson, once Bush’s top speechwriter, offered this gloomy 2007 assessment of the state of the GOP: "The party is in a funk. There is a lack of creativity, very little domestic policy energy. I think it’s going to be a problem." Of course, along with being one of the party’s brightest thinkers, Gerson is a Bush loyalist, so his calling it "a problem" can be translated as "a disaster." If the Republican Party in its current form loses the next general election and ends up fading into obscurity and irrelevancy, we can use the words of Don Rumsfeld (trying to sugarcoat a different debacle) for its epitaph: "The dead-enders are still with us, those remnants of the defeated regimes who’ll go on fighting long after their cause is lost."

And that’s why it is vitally important to recognize what has happened, to see how the Right’s radical ideas became ordinary, and to know how to spot their remnants and echoes wherever they crop up. Regardless of the outcome of this election, the lingering aftereffects of the neaconservative shift will be with us for a very long time.

A key to understanding the fanatical Right’s takeover of the Republican Party and how these ideas spread to the rest of the country is looking at the role of the media — not the Fox News pseudo-newsmen or the talk radio blowhards — but the respectable, supposedly liberal media. Without the enabling of the traditional media — with their obsession with "balance" and their pathological devotion to the idea that truth is always found in the middle — the radical Right would never have been able to have its ideas taken seriously. If not for the media’s appeals to balance, movement conservatism would have been laughed out of the court of public opinion long ago. And when the press does attempt to dig into the ideological underpinnings of debates about policy and current affairs, it becomes trapped by another form of the media’s bipolar disorder. Besides seeing two sides to every issue, they insist on seeing most political battles through the lens of right vs. left. By reporting everything that’s happening in American politics through this prism, the media missed the big story: the hijacking of America by the lunatic Right.

The other not-so-innocent bystanders to the Right’s takeover are the Democrats who have continued to tread far too lightly when it comes to holding the GOP’s fanatical core accountable. Time and time again, the Democratic leadership has allowed itself to get played, run over, or distracted. Republicans wanted to deflect discussion of the war by arguing over newspaper ads and radio comments? Okay, Democratic leaders were game. Republicans wanted to avoid talking about children without health care by whining about Democratic Rep. Pete Stark’s tough assessment of the president and the Iraq war? ("President Bush’s statements about children’s health shouldn’t be taken any more seriously than his lies about the war in Iraq," Stark said on the House floor. "The truth is that Bush just likes to blow things up.") Sure, Democratic leaders were more than willing to take the GOP bait and reprimand one of their own.

Democrats are in the majority today because the positions they campaigned are in line with mainstream America. But if the lunatic fringe group now known as the Republican Party is to be stopped in its efforts to radically remake this country, Democrats are going to have to step up and defend the mainstream that swept them into power in 2006. So far, they have shown little stomach for that fight.

The Republican race to replace George W. Bush turned into a competition to see Who Could Be the Biggest Neanderthal. Who would stay in Iraq the longest? Who would cut taxes the deepest? Who would be all right with firing gay Americans from their jobs? Who would jump for joy the highest if Roe v. Wade were reversed? Who would build the biggest fence around America? Who would put an end to stem cell research the fastest? Who would reject evolution most passionately?

The problem for the nea-con Right is not that it is at odds with my views, but that it is at odds with the views of the American people. By significant majorities, the American people believe in the science of evolution, don’t want Roe v. Wade overturned, don’t want to turn back the clock on job discrimination laws, and want to bring our troops home from Iraq. The Right flashing back to the Reagan era is one thing; the Right flashing back to the Dark Ages and trying to take the country with it is quite another.

The Only Thing We Have to Fear

The Right’s hijacking of America would not have been possible without its masterful use of fear to sway a nation terrified by the 9/11 attacks. It’s a symptom of just how sick the radical Right is that their immediate response to 9/11 was to look for opportunities to push their agenda. Abroad, they saw a pretext for an attack on Iraq, a long-cherished objective. At home, they saw a chance to solidify a permanent Republican stranglehold on power if they could recast themselves as the "party that will keep you safe" and then keep fear alive. It worked for them in 2004, and they are trying it again in 2008.

Since 9/11, the Right’s fear-mongering has been relentless and revolting. It bottomed out during the 2004 presidential campaign with a sewer-level attack ad against Democratic candidate John Kerry, put together by a 527 group largely financed by a pair of longtime Bush backers. The TV spot showed pictures of Osama bin Laden, 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta, the Chechen school murderers, and the Madrid train bombings and asked: "These people want to kill us. Would you trust Kerry up against these fanatic killers?"

Somewhere — and I don’t think it’s heaven — Karl Rove’s mentor Lee Atwater was smiling.

 

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There were more similarities between Post-9/11 America and Third Reich Germany than just over-reliance on Blitzkrieg tactics, and we determined that the two nations were following parallel political courses. Most disturbing  was the painful conclusion that our American president, with his global war for a New American Century, was just another German fuhrer, with a world war for a Thousand Year Reich.

“This is a bad copy of a bad original,” he said.

“Drang Nach Osten” — The Eastern Offensive

http://www.darkpolitricks.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-o-matic/cache/c387c_httpwww.thecornerreport.commediahitler.jpgGeorge W. Bush came into office with a secret war plan and no excuse to implement it – just as Hitler had come into office in 1933 with the same predicament. Both of them wanted the prize of Middle Eastern oil. In Hitler’s case that meant going through “Judeo-Bolshevik” Russia on the way, while in Bush’s case that meant going through “Islamo-Fascist” Iraq. In Hitler’s case the guiding document was Mein Kampf, while in Bush’s case there were two. A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm was presented to the Israeli government in 1996 by American neocons Douglas Feith, Richard Perle and David Wurmser, among others. Resbuilding America’s Defenses was presented to the American government in 2000. Its arguments mirrored the Israeli document, and had been drawn up by the neocons as well. In 2001 Feith, Perle and Wurmser became key Bush administration members.

Neither Hitler’s nor Bush’s plans for world dominance could have been pursued without some good luck. Both leaders entered office with over half their nations opposing them, and an avid opposition that wanted to pull them down. Hitler’s good luck came with the Reichstag fire, blamed on Jewish Communists, which mobilized his fatherland to rally behind him. Bush’s good luck happened on 9/11, blamed on Muslim Fundamentalists, which mobilized his homeland to rally behind him.

In both cases, their followers smiled at their good luck, and began their new order of things. Hitler quickly instituted an Enabling Act for the protection of the German people, slated for expiration in five years, which was quietly continued. Bush quickly instituted a Patriot Act for the protection of the American people, slated for expiration in five years, which was quietly continued. Hitler created the Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo) to further protect the German people, while Bush created theDepartment of Homeland Security (Homeseca) to do the same for the American people.

“Führer Prinzip” — The Unitary Executive

 

Both leaders were believers in the authoritarian concept. A few weeks before assuming office, Bush said outright that he thought dictatorship would be a fine form of government, if he could be the dictator. They both believed that power should come from above and obedience should come from below, and they offered protection in exchange for loyalty. Thus no one was surprised when Hermann Goering made a fortune helping to run Germany, just as no one was surprised when Irving “Scooter” Libby received a pardon for his pro-Bush political crimes in America.

Both leaders supplemented their new security police and security acts with concentration camps such as Dachau and Gitmo, initially designed for only a small percentage of national enemies. Both dispensed with international rules and regulations in their treatment of enemies in those installations, and applied a wide variety of innovative persuasive techniques to extract information and obtain confessions. The lessons learned in these proto-type camps proved to be invaluable in later establishments such as Auschwitz and Abu Ghraib.

Both leaders relied on agreeable legislatures. In Germany the Reichstag cheered enthusiastically as it endorsed the increase in police powers, the reduction in civil rights and the national march to world war. In America Congress did the same things, but in more subdued fashion, even with a show of dissent. In Germany, Hitler declared a dictatorship under Article 48, provided by the old Weimar Constitution in the event of a national emergency. In America Bush recently issued National Security Presidential Directive 51 (NSPD 51), thereby legalizing a dictatorship in the event of a national emergency.

“Gott Mit Uns” — God’s on Our Side

Neither Hitler nor Bush could have effected their radical plans without a party full of functionaries and a compliant national media, of course. Hitler relied on his “Nazi” party, an acronym of his National Socialist Party. He had a brilliant individual named Joseph Goebbels to control the Reich Propaganda Ministry and rally the public behind Nazi policies. Bush relied on his “Nozi” party, an anagram of Zion. He had a brilliant cartel of Zionists to control the American Mainstream Media and rally the public behind Nozi policies.

The greatest accomplishment of both the Nazi and Nozi parties was convincing themselves and their citizens that they were not conspirators of any sort, but rather the victims of an international conspiracy. The Nazi party said that Judeo-Communism was the hidden enemy, against which all the powers of a determined fatherland had to be directed, and that they were the targets of anti-German propaganda. The Nozi party says that Islamo-Fascism is the hidden enemy, against which all the powers of a determined homeland have to be directed, and that they are the targets of anti-Semitic propaganda.

The rest of the world didn’t buy the pro-war propaganda from Germany’s Nazis three generations ago, and they don’t buy it from America’s Nozis three generations later. The way the rest of the world sees it, what we have been taught to call the axis of evil is not so dangerous to the world as the axis of America. They see American naval forces massing in the name of national defense against Iran, and they remember Iraq. They see Israeli air forces attacking Syria, and they remember Lebanon. The rest of the world knows who we have become, even if we don’t.

 

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Ruins are the visible symbols and landmarks of our societies and their changes, small pieces of history in suspension.

The state of ruin is essentially a temporary situation that happens at some point, the volatile result of change of era and the fall of empires. This fragility, the time elapsed but even so running fast, lead us to watch them one very last time : being dismayed, or admire, making us wondering about the permanence of things.

Photography appeared to us as a modest way to keep a little bit of this ephemeral state.

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William Livingstone House #

Thanks for the history lesson guys.  I love this format ASC started.  

I believe we have no chance to change the ways things are going because in addition to the rich, no thats not right, the super rich,  who have no interest in preserving this Country... we have the hoards crossing the borders who begin their stay by giving our laws the middle finger.  They also and dont give a dam about this Country and will go home when things get really tough, unless they stick around to shoot us down in the streets like the father and both of his sons shot dead on the streets of San Fransicko recently because the illegal thought he was being blocked at an  intersection. And how do you explain that to a grieving wife and mother. Great reason for three people to die but it fits the intellect of the Country he came from.  Both of our political parties covet the illegal immigrant, one for the cheap labor and the other for the obedient thoughtless voting block they can be counted on to provide.   

The middle class cannot, or will not be organized. Its to much of a mixed bag.   The super rich and organizations for the poor both know that and capitalize on it. The anchor  baby benefit that is available to the illegal invaders and the presence of organizations such as Acorn to keep them in line and needy,  assures nothing is going to change.  I heard yesterday that 63% of the Countrys grade school children are now on the free breakfast and lunch program and that in some areas the schools are kept open during summer vacations and holidays to provide the meals their mothers should be preparing. No wonder the schools need so much money.  As the Russian would say..."What A Country".   

Where does that leave the middle class....up shit creek ..thats where....and yes momma ...the creek is rising....  Bill

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Michigan Central Station #

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Woodward Avenue #

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Atrium, Farwell Building #

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18th floor dentist cabinet, David Broderick Tower #

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Bagley-Clifford Office of the National Bank of Detroit #

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David Whitney Building #

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United Artists Theater #

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Fort Shelby Hotel #

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Ballroom, American Hotel #

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Melted clock, Cass Technical High School #

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Donovan Building #

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Old First Unitarian Church #

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Piano, Saint Albertus School #

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Luben Apartments #

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Woodward Avenue Presbyterian Church, built in the Gothic revival style in 1911 #

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Rich-Dex Apartments #

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Classroom, St Margaret Mary School #

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Biology classroom, Wilbur Wright High School #

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St Christopher House, ex-Public Library #

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Fisher Body 21 Plant #

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Room 1504, Lee Plaza Hotel #

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Detroit?s Vanity Ballroom with its unsalvaged art deco chandeliers. Duke Ellington and Tommy Dorsey once played here. #

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Packard Motors Plant #

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Waiting hall, Michigan Central Station #

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East Methodist Church #

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East Side Public Library #

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Offices, Highland Park Police Station

Subject: Whose Country is It?

Class 66...........As Rene said it, the best colony of England today was colonized in 1913 with the creation of the Federal Reserve Bank; owned and controlled by the Rothchilds and the Windsors.

A political-economic oligarchy has taken over the United States of America. This oligarchy has institutionalized a body of law that protects businesses at the expense of not only the common people but the nation itself.

A nation that cannot fulfill its Constitution’s stated goals surely is a failed one. How else could failure be defined? By allowing people with no fastidious loyalty to the nation or its people to control it, by allowing them to disregard entirely the Constitution’s preamble, the nation could not avoid this failure. The prevailing economic system requires it.

The answer is that a political-economic oligarchy has taken over the nation. This oligarchy has institutionalized a body of law that protects businesses at the expense of not only the common people but the nation itself. Businessmen have no loyalties. The Bank of International Settlements insures it, since it is not accountable to any national government.

Thomas Jefferson knew it when he wrote, “Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gain.” Mayer Amschel Rothschild knew it when he said, “Give me control of a nation’s money and I care not who makes the laws.” William Henry Vanderbilt knew it when he said, “The public be damned.” Businesses know it when they use every possible ruse to avoid paying taxes, they know it when they offshore jobs and production, they know it when the engage in war profiteering, and they know it when they take no sides in wars, caring not an iota who emerges victorious. IBM, GM, Ford, Alcoa, Du Pont, Standard Oil, Chase Bank, J.P. Morgan, National City Bank, Guaranty, Bankers Trust, and American Express all knew it when they did business as usual with Germany during World War II. Prescott Bush knew it when he aided and abetted the financial backers of Adolf Hitler.

Woody Guthrie sang, “This Land Is My Land, This Land Is Your Land,” but it isn’t. It was stolen a long time ago. Although it may have been “made for you and me,” people with absolutely no loyalty to this land now own it. It needs to be taken, not bought, back! America needs a new birth of freedom, it needs a government for the people, it needs a government that puts people first, but it won’t get one unless Americans come to realize just how immoral and vicious our economic system is.

ASC

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Biology classroom at George W Ferris School in the Detroit suburb of Highland Park #

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The ballroom of the 15-floor art-deco Lee Plaza Hotel, an apartment building with hotel services built in 1929 and derelict since the early 1990s #

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Michigan Theatre #

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Packard Motors Plant #

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Sunday, May 16, 2010

KALEIDOSCOPE OF THE EARTH: WITH THE BEATLES

 

 







KALEIDOSCOPE OF THE EARTH: WITH THE BEATLES

These breathtaking images show an extremely rare, multi-coloured cloud hovering over a Scottish island at night. The dazzling sight appeared over the island of Scalpay, in the Outer Hebrides, just before sunrise on December 9. Amateur photographer Jez Wheeler was lucky enough to be in the right place to capture the perfect shots of the cloud, known as a 'mother-of-pearl' or Nacreous cloud.

Iridescence: The mother-of-pearl cloud glows in a dazzling array of colours in this incredible image

Iridescence: The mother-of-pearl cloud glows in a dazzling array of colours in this incredible image

Misty mountains: The unusual cloud is often found downwind of high ground, and can signal wind or waves in the atmosphere

Misty mountains: The unusual cloud is often found downwind of high ground, and can signal wind or waves in the atmosphere. 'I woke up early about 8.15am just to have a look outside and there it was,' said Jaz, a mink trapper. 'It was completely unexpected but I managed to get the shot. It was beautiful.' Atmospheric optics expert Les Cowley said: 'Nacreous clouds, sometimes called mother-of-pearl clouds, are rare but once seen are never forgotten. 'They are mostly visible within two hours after sunset or before dawn, when they blaze unbelievably bright, with vivid and slowly shifting iridescent colours. 'They are filmy sheets slowly curling and uncurling, stretching and contracting in the semi-dark sky.

UFO: The spectacular cloud hovers high above Scotland like a visitor from space

UFO: The spectacular cloud hovers high above Scotland like a visitor from space

HEAD IN THE CLOUDS?

Nacreous clouds, or mother-of-pearl clouds, form in the very cold regions of the lower stratosphere, 15-25 km (9-16 miles) high and well above tropospheric clouds. They form when methane in the atmosphere reacts with ozone, and the reason they are so bright after sunset and before dawn is because, at those heights, they are still sunlit. Dave Clark, of Aberdeen Met Office, said: 'It is unusual to be able to see these nacreous clouds as they are formed in the troposphere, high above our weather.They are a direct consequence of us releasing too much methane into the atmosphere and this reacts with the ozone to form chlorine clouds. 'In the past they could only be seen in the polar countries... But that is worrying because of what it signifies about increased global warming.' 'Compared with dark scudding low altitude clouds that might be present, nacreous clouds stand majestically in almost the same place - an indicator of their great height. 'They need the very frigid regions of the lower stratosphere some 15-25 km high and well above tropospheric clouds. They are so bright after sunset and before dawn because at those heights they are still sunlit.' 'They are seen mostly during winter at high latitudes like Scandinavia, Iceland, Alaska and Northern Canada. 'Sometimes, however, they occur as far south as England. They can be less rare downwind of mountain ranges. 'Elsewhere, their appearance is often associated with severe tropospheric winds and storms. 'Nacreous clouds far outshine and have much more vivid colours than ordinary iridescent clouds which are very much poor relations and seen frequently all over the world. 'Nacreous clouds are wave clouds. They are often found downwind of mountain ranges which induce gravity waves in the lower stratosphere. 'Their sheet-like forms slowly undulate and stretch as the waves evolve. 'The clouds can also be associated with very high surface winds which may indicate the presence of, or induce, winds and waves in the stratosphere. 'They form at temperatures of around minus 85C, colder than average lower stratosphere temperatures, and are comprised of ice particles. 'The clouds must be composed of similar sized crystals to produce the characteristic bright iridescent colours by diffraction and interference.'

 

These futuristic homes are taking shape on the West Coast - and you don't need a flying Delorian to see them.

With daring new designs, several California-based architectural firms are making waves with concepts that will change what America knows about home design and décor.

California Home + Design is spotlighting several of the homes, as well as the architects who made them possible.

Just plane exquisite: The roof of the 747 Wing House, designed by architect David Hertz, was made out of actual wings from a 747 jumbo jet

Just plane exquisite: The roof of the 747 Wing House, designed by architect David Hertz, was made out of actual wings from a 747 jumbo jet

Letting some light in: Don't be fooled by this Toro Canyon home's exterior - the inside is extremely colourful

Letting some light in: Don't be fooled by this Toro Canyon home's exterior - the inside is extremely colourful

A bridge to somewhere: The Bridge House in San Anselmo is built across a ravine

A bridge to somewhere: The Bridge House in San Anselmo is built across a ravine.

The Bridge House, designed by San Francisco-based architect Stanley Staitowitz, is built across a ravine on a 15-acre property in San Anselmo.

Attracting architecture awards and plenty of eyeballs across the country, the unique designs are blowing the roof off conventional homebuilding. 

 

Unique: The Treehouse, left, offers a breathtaking view of Los Angeles, while the Palms House, right, is spacious and features several balconies

One of the homes, located in Malibu, was redesigned with actual wings from a jumbo jet, which architect David Hertz envisioned after the homeowner came to him with a desire for a curved roof.

Palms House

Treehouse

Desert fortress: The iT House, located in the high desert east of Los Angeles, was designed with thick walls, small windows and even rooftop solar panels by architecture firm Taalman and Koch

Desert fortress: The iT House, located in the high desert east of Los Angeles, was designed with thick walls, small windows and even rooftop solar panels by architecture firm Taalman and Koch

Green house: This Montecito home was constructed out of eco-friendly materials like steel, glass and concrete

Green house: This Montecito home was constructed out of eco-friendly materials like steel, glass and concrete

Lifeguard on duty? This home, nestled in California's Wine Country, boast a house, guest house, and a sprawling pool

Lifeguard on duty? This home, nestled in California's Wine Country, boast a house, guest house, and a sprawling pool

Location, location, location: The Nakahouse in the Hollywood Hills is a favourite among the architecture crowd

Location, location, location: The Nakahouse in the Hollywood Hills is a favourite among the architecture crowd

Jagged: The Openhouse, also located in the Hollywood Hills, is an edgy approach to home design

Jagged: The Openhouse, also located in the Hollywood Hills, is an edgy approach to home design

world of Gothic cathedral ceilings

At first glance, the amazing symmetry of these images makes them look like the hypnotic, psychedelic patterns seen through a kaleidoscope.

But they are in fact amazing examples of European cathedral ceilings, designed and crafted with the utmost precision as places where the earthly can meet the divine.

The Gothic cathedrals of the Middle Ages are among the world's greatest architectural achievements, symbols of the intense religious devotion of the era.

Remarkable symmetry: The vaulted ceiling of the Chapter House at York Minster, seat of the Archbishop of York

 

Remarkable symmetry: The vaulted ceiling of the Chapter House at York Minster, seat of the Archbishop of York

With many taking decades, or even centuries, to build and decorate, they represent some of the finest tangible achievements of the Christian faith and are major landmarks in the geography and history of the cities in which they stand.

Many are featured among the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites, in which they sit aside wonders like the pyramids of Egypt and Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

For centuries, the remarkable geometry of the sites have amazed tourists and religious devotees alike, with the architects and who built them codifying their sense of spiritual wonder in stone.

York Minster, the seat of the Archbishop of York and the second largest Gothic cathedral in northern Europe, took more than 200 years to complete.

Built from magnesian limestone, quarried in nearby Tadcaster, the building has a cruciform plan with an octagonal chapter house attached to the north transept, a central tower and two towers at the west front.

The roof of the chapter house, pictured above, is notable not only for its incredible intricate vaulting, but also because it has not central column for support.

 

Grand: The ceiling of Ely Cathedral, Cambridgeshire, showing the octagonal lantern in the centre

Grand: The ceiling of Ely Cathedral, Cambridgeshire, showing the octagonal lantern in the centre

Perfect geometry: The nave of the Hieronymite Monastery in Belém, Portugal, shows the remarkable precision of the stone masons and architects that built medieval holy buildings

Perfect geometry: The nave of the Hieronymite Monastery in Belém, Portugal, shows the remarkable precision of the stone masons and architects that built medieval holy buildings

Severe: The Ambulatory at the Santa Maria del Mar in Barcelona, Spain, built in the 1300s

Severe: The Ambulatory at the Santa Maria del Mar in Barcelona, Spain, built in the 1300s

These images of cathedral ceilings were photographed by Dr David Stephenson, associate professor at the University of Tasmania's School of Art in Hobart.

Dr Stephenson is an expert in cathedral architecture and his work has been exhibited throughout the world and published in numerous publications.

These pictures feature in his book Heavenly Vaults: From Romanesque to Gothic in European Architecture, published in New York by Princeton Architectural Press.

In an accompanying essay, he charts the history of the vault and explains its technological developments.

Purple haze: The Choir ceiling at Sainte-Chappelle, Paris, France

Purple haze: The Choir ceiling at Sainte-Chappelle, Paris, France

Magnificent: The nave at Chartres Cathedral in Chartres, France - perhaps one of the most splendid examples of Gothic architecture

Magnificent: The nave at Chartres Cathedral in Chartres, France - perhaps one of the most splendid examples of Gothic architecture

Heavenly: The nave of Laon Cathedral, Laon, France

Heavenly: The nave of Laon Cathedral, Laon, France

Towering: St Hugh's Choir at Lincoln Cathedral, Lincoln, England - named for the Bishop who began the cathedral's renovation in the Gothic style after it was damaged by an earthquake in the 12th century

Towering: St Hugh's Choir at Lincoln Cathedral, Lincoln, England - named for the Bishop who began the cathedral's renovation in the Gothic style after it was damaged by an earthquake in the 12th century

Devotion: The nave of St Mary's Church in Gdansk, Poland. Photographer Dr David Stephenson travelled across Europe photographing the best of Gothic religious architecture

Devotion: The nave of St Mary's Church in Gdansk, Poland. Photographer Dr David Stephenson travelled across Europe photographing the best of Gothic religious architecture

Massive: The vaulted ceiling above the choir at Cologne Cathedral, Cologne, Germany, which is northern Europe's largest Gothic church

Massive: The vaulted ceiling above the choir at Cologne Cathedral, Cologne, Germany, which is northern Europe's largest Gothic church

New York secret rooftop world: Amazing aerial shots give you a view of city's skyline as you've never seen it before

This incredible collection of aerial photographs taken above New York gives a rare glimpse of a hidden rooftop world.

Just a few stories above the non-stop hubbub of city life exists an incredible oasis of lush gardens, restaurants, swimming pools and even tennis courts.

Thanks to Mayor Bloomberg's eco-friendly 'roofscaping' initiatives, the tops of dozens of buildings have been transformed into amazing outdoor living spaces and models for green-city living.

Secret world: One of photographer Alex Maclean's amazing aerial shots shows a block in Upper West Side

Secret world: One of photographer Alex Maclean's amazing aerial shots shows a block in Upper West Side

Growing trend: A one acre urban farm in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens

Growing trend: A one acre urban farm in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens

Guests at the city's Standard Hotel enjoy the rooftop life

Guests at the city's Standard Hotel enjoy the rooftop life

Other amazing features include beehives, basketball courts adventure playgrounds artworks and even a vintage Sopwith Camel biplane.

Pilot and photographer Alex MacLean captured the stunning images for his new book Up on The Roof: New York's Hidden Skyline Spaces.

Over the years MacLean has flown his plane over large areas of the United States, documenting the landscape from beautiful agricultural patterns to geometric city grids.

In the book's introduction architecture critic Robert Campbell writes: 'Rooftops will be the lungs of the denser city of the future.

'As the world urbanizes, the rooftops will connect us with nature, with wind and sun and rain and snow, with the natural processes of growth and decay.'

Urban jungle: A multi-level rooftop garden overlooking Central Park in Manhattan's Upper East Side

Urban jungle: A multi-level rooftop garden overlooking Central Park in Manhattan's Upper East Side

Artificial materials and pebbles make up the camouflage pattern on the roof at the Museum of Modern Art

Artificial materials and pebbles make up the camouflage pattern on the roof at the Museum of Modern Art

MacLean snapped the city from the window of his lightweight, composite plane. He learnt to fly while studying architecture at Harvard in the Seventies and later provided aerial images for architects and landscape designers.

Over the years he has clocked up more than 6,000 flying hours and has published ten books of his aerial photography.

The new book, which contains 184 beautifully detailed photographs, is published by Princeton Architectural Press and available from Amazon.

Transformation: The skyline, an elevated park in the sky built on top of the tracks of a disused railway, weaves its way through the city blocks

Transformation: The High Line, an elevated park in the sky built on top of the tracks of a disused railway, weaves its way through the city blocks

Tudor City, Manhattan: A mid-rise apartment building topped with terrace gardens detailed with Tudor style flourishes

Tudor City, Manhattan: A mid-rise apartment building topped with terrace gardens detailed with Tudor style flourishes

Chocks away: A vintage bi-plane is pictured on the roof of 77 Water Street in the city's financial district

Chocks away: A vintage bi-plane is pictured on the roof of 77 Water Street in the city's financial district

Chelsea, Manhattan: A Cool mural on a white roof above a gallery building in Chelsea

Chelsea, Manhattan: A Cool mural on a white roof above a gallery building in Chelsea

Green living: A beautifully detailed high-rise terrace garden

Green living: A beautifully detailed high-rise terrace garden

The School of the Future building at 127 East 22nd Street

The School of the Future building at 127 East 22nd Street

Manhattan: New roof terraces in various stages of construction are configured around headhouses, lightwells and water towers

Manhattan: New roof terraces in various stages of construction are configured around headhouses, lightwells and water towers

Aerosol Art Center: An outdoor art exhibit space in Long Island City. A Mecca for graffiti artists the world over

Aerosol Art Center: An outdoor art exhibit space in Long Island City. A Mecca for graffiti artists the world over

A stunning selection of apartments above 166 Bank St

A stunning selection of roof gardens above 166 Bank St

The green roof above the Morgan mail processing facility, covers 109,000 square feet, or nearly 2.5 acres. During construction, approximately 90 percent of the original roof was recycled

This brilliant new collection of aerial photographs giving a spectacular bird's eye view of Britain from above has been released to mark the Queen's Jubilee year.

Bustling cities contrast with serene stretches of glorious countryside as sites that might seem ubiquitous from the ground are transformed into unique and wonderful images when viewed from above.

 

Perfect location: The Glenfinnan Viaduct in Scotland featured in the Harry Potter films

Perfect location: The Glenfinnan Viaduct in Scotland featured in the Harry Potter films

Jubilee year: Buckingham Palace dominates the landscape in their aerial view of London

Jubilee year: Buckingham Palace dominates the landscape in this aerial view of London

Jolly hockey pics: Pictured from above these sports and the ant like people pitches take on a strange geometrical beauty

Jolly hockey pics: Pictured from above these sports pitches and the ant like people playing take on a strange geometrical beauty

Jason, who has produced more than 40 aerial photographic books for various publishers, said: 'Britain is a stunning country to photograph - the topography is so varied.

'In just a morning's flight you can go from busy town and cities to tiny rural villages, from rugged mountain scenery to the flattest broads, and from meandering inland waterways to remote coastlines.

'And as for the history and heritage - it's surely one of the richest landscapes in the world for ancient monuments and magnificent architecture, both old and new.

'It's a thrilling place to discover on foot, but perhaps all the more intriguing from the air.'

Field of dreams: The Oval cricket pitch in South London at night

Field of dreams: The Oval cricket pitch in South London at night

Fun land: A rollercoaster track twists and turns to form an incredible image at this British amusement park

Fun land: A rollercoaster track twists and turns to form an incredible colourful image at this amusement park in Southend-on-Sea

Looking down on an angel: A rarely seen of Anthony Gormley's Angel of the North sculpture in Gateshead

Looking down on an angel: A rarely seen view of Anthony Gormley's Angel of the North sculpture in Gateshead

 Jason has specialized in aerial photography since 1991 and has produced more than 40 aerial photographic books for publishers

Brighton Pier: Jason has specialised in aerial photography since 1991 and has produced more than 40 aerial photographic books for publishers

Hanging out with Nelson: A view looking down on Nelson's Column in London's Trafalgar Square

Hanging out with Nelson: A view looking down on Nelson's Column in London's Trafalgar Square

Ace view: Centre Court at the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Club

Ace view: Centre Court at the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Club

Suburban heights: The stunning aerial images were captured by photographer Jason Hawkes while he was shooting various assignments across the country in a helicopter

London suburbs: The stunning aerial images were captured by photographer Jason Hawkes while he was shooting various assignments across the country in a helicopter

Heritage site: A quiet moment at Stonehenge

Heritage site: A quiet moment at Stonehenge

Nooks and crannies: A lighthouse looks out over a rugged stretch of Britain's coast

Nooks and crannies: A lighthouse looks out over a rugged stretch of coast near East Prawle in Devon

Myth and legend: Some believe Glastonbury Tor in Somerset is the final resting place of King Arthur

Myth and legend: Some believe Glastonbury Tor in Somerset is the final resting place of King Arthur

Bluegrass: A field of Flax in Buckinghamshire takes on magical properties

Bluegrass: A field of Flax in Buckinghamshire takes on magical properties

Based just outside London, photographer Jason Hawkes has been making fascinating aerial images since 1991. One of his specialties is nighttime photography, where he mounts his camera to a gyro-stabilizer and takes photos directly from the open door of a helicopter. Jason has been generous to me over the years, and once again he has shared a group of stunning images. As we approach the London Summer Olympics, let Jason give you a preview tour of London and other cities in the U.K.

Night aerial view over Swiss Re Tower, and the Lloyds Building, City of London. (© Jason Hawkes)

Night aerial view over Swiss Re Tower, and the Lloyds Building, City of London. (© Jason Hawkes)

Click here to find out more!

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The clock tower of the Palace of Westminster, home to "Big Ben". (© Jason Hawkes) #

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Night aerial view over the River Clyde and Central Glasgow. (© Jason Hawkes) #

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Five a side football pitches, 20 Union Street, Manchester. (© Jason Hawkes) #

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Dusk aerial view over the London 2012 Olympic Park, showing the London Aquatics Centre (center left), Water Polo Arena (bottom center), and Olympic Stadium (right). (© Jason Hawkes) #

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Night aerial view over Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow. (© Jason Hawkes) #

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The Shard, Europe's tallest building, with St Paul's Cathedral and the London Eye in the far background. (© Jason Hawkes) #

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Night aerial view over M62 and M60 motorways. (© Jason Hawkes) #

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Fairfax Street, Bristol. (© Jason Hawkes) #

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Night aerial view overlooking Bank and the City of London. (© Jason Hawkes) #

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The historic s Great Britain, a ship first launched in 1843, now on display in a dry dock in Bristol. (© Jason Hawkes) #

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Albert Hall, South Kensignton, London. (© Jason Hawkes) #

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Bristol Temple Meads Rail Station in Bristol, England. (© Jason Hawkes) #

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The O2 Arena, in Greenwich, London, showing the new sky walkway across the top of the dome. (© Jason Hawkes) #

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The City of London, showing the blue lights of the Heron Tower. (© Jason Hawkes) #

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Queen Square, in the center of Bristol, England. (© Jason Hawkes) #

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Houses of Parliament, Westminster, London. (© Jason Hawkes) #

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Pedestrians and buses crowd Piccadilly Circus, London. (© Jason Hawkes) #

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Gallery of Modern Art, Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow. (© Jason Hawkes) #

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The City of London, with Tower Bridge (upper right) and the River Thames. (© Jason Hawkes) #

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The Selfridges store designed by Future Systems at the Bullring, Birmingham. (© Jason Hawkes) #

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George Square, Glasgow. (© Jason Hawkes) #

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A huge distribution center, Smethwick, West Midlands. (© Jason Hawkes) #

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The City of London with the Heron Tower, Swiss Re Tower and Tower 42. To the right of the image you can see the dome of St Paul's Cathedral and on the South side of the River Thames the newly completed Shard Building. (© Jason Hawkes) #

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A night game at Wembley Stadium. (© Jason Hawkes) #

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The Westfield Stratford Shopping center and London 2012 Olympic Park (center). (© Jason Hawkes) #

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Thermae Bath Spa is a combination of the historic spa and a contemporary building, in Bath, England. (© Jason Hawkes) #

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Riverside Museum: Scotland's Museum of Transport and Travel, in Glasgow. (© Jason Hawkes) #

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Above Charing Cross Station, looking to the South Bank and London Eye, London. (© Jason Hawkes) #

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The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Bath, commonly known as Bath Abbey, an Anglican parish church and a former Benedictine monastery in Bath, Somerset, England. (© Jason Hawkes)

A view of Earth, the stars, and red and green auroras above cities in western North America, as seen from the International Space Station, on February 19, 2012. (NASA)

Click here to find out more!

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Rows of houses near the London 2012 Olympic Park in London, England, on March 27, 2012. (Reuters/Stefan Wermuth) #

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Australia's Lady Elliot Island, seen on January 14, 2012. Lady Elliot Island is one of the three island resorts in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. The island of approximately 100 acres lies 46 nautical miles north-east of the Queensland town of Bundaberg and is the southern-most coral cay of the Great Barrier Reef. (Mark Kolbe/Getty Images) #

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Flooded valleys line Lake Nasser, in Egypt. Lake Nasser was formed after the completion of the Aswan High Dam across the Nile River in 1970. (© DigitalGlobe, Google, inc.)

The changing face of Earth: Dramatic high-resolution satellite images show how the world has been transformed over the last four decades

These amazing satellite images show how the march of progress has altered the face of the earth in just a few decades.

The images were all taken by a fleet of Earth-observing satellites that form part of the 'Landsat' program, which celebrates its 40th anniversary tomorrow.

Jointly managed by Nasa and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the initiative has been consistently gathering data about our planet since 23 July, 1972.

Samuel Dam, Jamari River, Rondonia, Brazil

Hydroelectric dam in Brazil: Landsat satellite photographs of the Samuel Dam, located on the Jamari River in Rondonia, Brazil, in 1984, left, and 2011, right. In the 1984 image construction work had just begun on the hydroelectric dam (shown just above centre middle). In 2011 the image shows the reservoir (centre middle) created by the dam and areas of deforestation (left to the lower half of the image).

Binhai, China, located on the Bohai Sea in 1982 and 2012

Development in China: These Landsat images show Binhai, China in 1992 (L) and 2012 (R). The city is located on the coast of the Bohai Sea. The 2012 photograph shows large scale urbanisation compared to the 1992 image. Binhai was transformed in 1990 from a swampy region into a major economic zone. It is currently home to numerous aerospace, oil and chemical, and other manufacturing industries.

Dubai 1990 and 2006

Sands of time in Dubai: Landsat satellite photograph of Dubai in 1990, left and 2006, right. Water is dark blue, urbanized areas are grey, vegetation is red and desert is light brown. Dubai is located on the coast of the Persian Gulf in the Arabian Peninsula, within the Arabian Desert. It is one of the seven emirates in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which was formed in 1971. Dubai City, is situated on the banks of Dubai Creek, (centre in both photos) a natural inlet used for shipping. The creek was dredged in the 1970s to allow the passage of large vessels. The population of Dubai began to increase rapidly from the early 1970s, after the discovery of reserves of oil fuelled economic growth. There was significant urban development in the area from the 1970s to 1990.

Gulf of Fonseca

Fishing on the coast of Honduras and Nicaragua: Landsat satellite photographs of shrimp farming in the Gulf of Fonseca in 1985, left, 1999, centre, and 2011, right. Over the past 40 years this region along the Pacific coast of Honduras and Nicaragua has seen intensive development of aquaculture. Tidal (salt) flats are shades of beige and gray, mangroves are dark green and edged in brown, and inland agricultural lands are shades of brown and light green. Shrimp ponds are mostly rectangular in shape. Shrimp has become one of Honduras' primary exports.

This makes it the world's longest-running satellite program for global land observations.

Its archive of images forms an impartial, comprehensive, and easily accessed register of human and natural changes to the Earth.

Currently in orbit is Landsat 7, which has been in operation for 13 years. A replacement satellite is scheduled to launch in January 2013.

This series of photos shows how much some areas of the world have changed in just a short amount of time. For example, in 1987 an image of the Wadi As-Sirhan Basin in Saudi Arabia shows largely desert; however, by 2012 most of the region has been developed into farmland.

This series of photographs taken show the disappearance of a lake over the years

Aral Sea 1973, 1987, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2007 and 2009

The Aral Sea in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan: These Landsat satellite photographs are of the Aral Sea, found between Uzbekistan (west) and Kazakhstan (east). It used to be the fourth largest lake in the world This inland lake is. Since the 1960s it has lost more than half of its volume and these images show how its size has decreased in the last 40 years. The first image, on the top left was taken in 1973 and then from left to right on the top row: 1987, 1999 and 2001. The bottom row shows photos from 2004, 2007 and 2009. The shrinkage is due to overuse of feeder rivers (the Syr Darya and Amu Darya) for the irrigation of cotton and paddy fields

Changes: These amazing satellite images show how the march of progress has altered the face of the earth in just a few decades.

Java, Indonesia: Landsat satellite photographs showing the growth of Jakarta, on the island of Java in Indonesia. Each square is 40 kilometres wide. Vegetation is coloured red and urban areas appear light green. The image on the far left was taken in 1976 when the population was six million. The middle image was taken in 1989 when the population was nine million and the right picture was taken in 2004 when the population was 13 million. Jakarta is the most populous city in Southeast Asia and the twelfth largest city in the world.

The change in the area over the years becomes painfully clear in these pictures of the Dead Sea in the Jordan Rift Valley, taken in 1984, left, and 2011, right

The Dead Sea, Jordan: Landsat satellite photos of the Dead Sea in 1984, left, and 2011, right. The Dead Sea is located in the Jordan Rift Valley and borders Jordan, Israel, and the West Bank. It is one of the world's saltiest bodies of water. In recent decades, the sea has been shrinking due to diversion of water from the Jordan River, the sea's main tributary. Mineral evaporation ponds that have replaced open water in the southern part of the sea can be seen in the 2011 image

A 1992 image of Binhai in China in shows very little coastal urbanisation but by 2012 the area has been transformed from a swampy region into a major economic zone.

Meanwhile, in 1990 the coastline of Dubai remained practically untouched, but fast forward 16 years and it has sprouted the kind of developments the country has become famed for.

And in Brazil in 1984 work had just begun on the Samuel Dam, located on the Jamari River in Rondonia. Another image, taken in 2011, shows the impact the dam has had with a new reservoir and areas of deforestation clearly visible.

Shenzhen, China in 1999, left, and right, in 2008

Shenzhen, China: Satellite photographs of Shenzhen, China, in 1999, left and 2008, right. Shenzhen is located in southern China's Guangdong province. In 1979 the small fishing village was designated a Special Economic Zone and rapidly went through extensive industrial and urban development. In 1999 it had grown from the fishing village into a large city and by 2008 its port (bottom middle of both photos) had become China's second busiest mainland port (after Shanghai). There is also extensive urbanisation of the surrounding land.

The Caspian Sea in 1972, left, 1987, middle and in 2010, right

The Caspian Sea: Landsat satellite photograph of the Caspian Sea in 1972, left, 1987 (middle) and 2010, right. The Caspian is the largest body of inland water in the world. It is bordered by Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. The centre image shows the loss of water and large salt bowl region due to the blocking of the Caspian in 1980. In 1992 the barrier was breached and allowed the Caspian's water levels to rise, which is visible in the 2010 image.

Bolivia

Deforestation in Bolivia: Landsat satellite photographs showing deforestation in the Santa Cruz de la Sierra region of Bolivia. The forest (red) is being encroached upon by growing settlements, which house people resettled from the Altiplano (high Andean plains). Each settlement is surrounded by fields, which mostly grow soybeans for export. There are concerns that large-scale deforestation may contribute to global warming and the greenhouse effect by removing trees, which absorb carbon dioxide.

Colombia

Colombia

Colombia

Landsat satellite photograph of Columbia Glacier in 1986 (top), 2000 (middle) and 2011 (bottom). The Columbia Glacier descends from an ice field 3,050 metres above sea level, down the flanks of the Chugach Mountains, and into a narrow inlet that leads into Prince William Sound in southeastern Alaska. It is one of the most rapidly changing glaciers in the world. Snow and ice appears bright cyan, vegetation is green, clouds are white or light orange, and the open ocean is dark blue. Exposed bedrock is brown, while rocky debris on the glacier's surface is gray. Between 1980 and present day the glacier (shown as the wispy medium blue) has retreated 20 kilometres north and lost roughly half its thickness and volume.

Utah

Great Salt Lake, Utah: Landsat satellite photographs showing the Great Salt Lake in Utah, U.S. in 1985, left, and 2010, right. These image reveal the loss of water from the Great Salt Lake between 1985 and 2010. The Great Salt Lake is susceptible to seasonal variations in times of drought or heavy rainfall

Landsat satellite photographs of Santiago, Chile in 1985 (L) and 2010 (R). The comparison reveals how the city has expanded over that time period

Santiago, Chile: Landsat satellite photographs of Santiago, Chile in 1985, left, and 2010, right. The comparison reveals how the city has expanded over that time period

Landsat satellite photographs of Tucson, Arizona

Tucson, Arizona: Landsat satellite photographs of Tucson, Arizona, in 1984 (left) and 2011 (right). The comparison reveals how the city has expanded over that time period. In 1980 the population numbered approximately 600,000. By 2011, the population numbered over one million.

Texas

Lake Meredith, Texas: Landsat satellite photograph showing Lake Meredith in 1990, left and 2011, right. Lake Meredith is an artificial lake formed by the Sanford Dam in Texas. The 2011 image clearly shows how much water loss through continual drought has occured since 1990

Landsat satellite photographs of the Wadi As-Sirhan Basin in Saudi Arabia in 1987 (L) and 2012 (R).

Saudi Arabia: Landsat satellite photographs of the Wadi As-Sirhan Basin in Saudi Arabia in 1987, left and 2012, right. The 1987 image shows largely desert. By 2012 most of the region has been developed into farmland. Water reserves up to a kilometre deep underground have been tapped to allow farmers to grow grain, fruits and vegetables in the desert. The crops are grown using pivot irrigation, each crop circle measures roughly one kilometre across.

Morocco

Morocco: Landsat satellite photographs of cities near the Atlantic coast of Morocco in 1985 (L) and 2011 (R) The 2011 images shows the increased urban growth of these cities compared to the 1985 image. The Atlas Mountains are visible at top.

 

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A view of central Moscow, with the headquarters of Russia's Foreign Ministry, one of the so-called Stalin high rises, in the foreground, seen on April 5, 2012. (Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Pine forests near the central Bosnian town of Vlasic covered by snow in winter, on February 9, 2012. (Reuters/Dado Ruvic) #

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Railway tracks lead towards the main train station as the sun sets on a freezing cold afternoon in Frankfurt, Germany, on January 31, 2012. (Reuters/Kai Pfaffenbach) #

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An aerial view of Las Vegas, Nevada, surrounding sprawl, and background mountains, photographed on January 11, 2012. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) #

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The Beachy Head lighthouse, near Eastbourne, England, on September 1, 2011. Trinity House, which is responsible for the lighthouse, has said that the it will not be repainted in its distinctive red and white stripes because it is no longer required as a daymark.(Reuters/Luke MacGregor)

The GeoEye-1 satellite is capable of capturing details as small as a dustbin as it hurtles past our planet at 17,000mph - and its creators have hand-picked views that show off the majesty of our planet.

GeoEye provides exclusive imagery to the Google Earth and Google Maps applications.

It captures around 270,000 square miles of Earth's surface ever day - an amount of geographical data equivalent to the size of the State of Texas.

Antarctica

This image shows ice fields near Adelaide Island (on the west) which is a large, mainly ice-covered island, 75 miles long and 20 miles wide, lying at the north side of Marguerite Bay off the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula

Towra Point

Towra Point Nature Reserve located on the southern shores of Botany Bay at Kurnell, within the Sutherland Shire, in southern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Towra Point consists of 603.3 hectares (1,491 acres) and is situated on an ancient river delta deposit

Space Shuttle Endeavour on Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Florida, awaiting launch to the International Space Station - it's lst flight

Space Shuttle Endeavour on Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Florida, awaiting launch to the International Space Station - its last flight

Markings on the ground in Xinjiang China. Such satellite images are often the subject of conspiracy theories - but are usually used to calibrate satellite imagers

Markings on the ground in Xinjiang China. Such satellite images are often the subject of conspiracy theories - but are usually used to calibrate satellite imagers

The four pictures were released to celebrate Earth Day, and show endangered habitats around the world.

As of last year, GeoEye had gathered together more than 98,000,000 square miles of photographs and their newest satellite GeoEye 1 is capable of capturing something the size of a beer barrel from 425 miles up.

'Our biggest customer is the military and primarily the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, whom we provide photos to within 50 cm clarity on the ground,' said Elizabeth 'Eli' Doerr, GeoEye's Corporate Imagery Services Representative.

'GeoEye orbits at almost 17,000 mph and makes 15 orbits a day.

The Pausylipon Archeological Site

The Pausylipon Archeological Site and the Seiano Grotto, located approximately 8.1 miles west of Naples, Italy. These archaeological ruins include a remarkable amphitheater with a seating capacity of two thousand

She said: 'It has a sun-synchronous orbit, which means that it can pass over the same location every day at approximately 10.30am.

'It is capable of collecting up to 700,000 square kilometres of material every day and that is basically data equivalent to the size of Texas.'

Launched in a Delta 2 Rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California in 2008, GeoEye 1 was the latest addition to their ever-growing dominance of the commercial satellite sector.

'The whole project in total cost £314 million to put the 4,300 pound satellite into orbit in conjunction with Boeing who built the Delta rocket and General Dynamics who built GeoEye1,' she said.

Italy's Naples, as captured by the imager, which can pick out objects just 50cm across

Italy's Naples, as captured by the imager, which can pick out objects just 50cm across

Japan's Sendai as captured by GeoEye's high-resolution imager

Japan's Sendai as captured by GeoEye's high-resolution imager

Vatican City as seen by GeoEye

Vatican City as seen by GeoEye

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An illegal oil refining site with runoff from crude oil covering the banks along the Imo river, 30 km (20 miles) west of Nigeria's oil hub city of Port Harcourt, on September 22, 2011. (Reuters/Akintunde Akinleye) #

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A view of Petare shantytown, east of Caracas, Venezuela, taken on February 15, 2012. (Leo Ramirez/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Residents on a boat navigate down a flooded farm in the municipality of Cajica near Bogota, on May 21, 2011. (Reuters/John Vizcaino) #

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A view of lower Manhattan just before sunset in New York, on August 24, 2011. (Reuters/Lucas Jackson) #

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Astronauts orbiting some 415 km (258 mi) above the Earth in the International Space Station photographed these multilayered cloud formations above the Pacific Ocean, on November 24, 2011. (NASA) #

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An aerial view from a medevac helicopter shows vehicle pathways in a desert area of Helmand province, Afghanistan, on November 8, 2011. (Behrouz Mehri/AFP/Getty Images) #

Moscow, Russia appears at the center of this nighttime image photographed by one of the Expedition 30 crew members aboard the International Space Station, on March 28, 2012. A solar array panel for the space station is on the left side of the frame. The view is to the north-northwest. On the horizon in the background can be seen a small sample of Aurora Borealis, airglow and daybreak. (NASA)

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Heard Island, an Australian territory in the Indian Ocean, dominated by Mawson Peak, a 2,745 m (9,000 ft) high volcano. The uninhabited island is among one of the most remote on Earth, halfway between Africa and Australia, and 1,609 km (1,000 mi) north of Antarctica. Photographed by the crew of the International Space Station on November 24, 2011. (NASA) #

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Tents of Muslim pilgrims spread among roads and pathways in Mina, Soudia Arabia, where they gathered for the Hajj on November 7, 2011. (Reuters/Ammar Awad) #

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An inflatable dinghy in a flood-affected field in the French southeastern town of Roquebrune-sur-Argens, France, on November 7, 2011. (Boris Horvat/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Mont-Saint-Michel, a tourist attraction and UNESCO world heritage site in northwestern France, seen on February 2, 2012. (Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Ice floes along the Kamchatka coastline are featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 30 crew member on the International Space Station, on March 15, 2012. As ice floes grind against each other, they produce smaller floes that can be moved by wind and water currents acting along the coastline. The irregular southeastern coastline of Kamchatka helps to produce large circular eddy currents from the main southwestward-flowing Kamchatka current. (NASA) #

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A swirling low pressure system above the Gulf of Alaska, highlighted by an aurora and city lights below, seen from the International Space Station on February 10, 2012. (NASA) #

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The Eiffel Tower in Paris, viewed on Bastille Day, July 14, 2011. (Reuters/Charles Platiau) #

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Ice sheets float on the river Oder at the German-Polish border in Ratzdorf, Germany, on February 10, 2012. (Patrick Pleul/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Workers coordinate to harvest soybeans on a farm in the city of Tangara da Serra, Brazil, on March 27, 2012. (Reuters/Paulo Whitaker) #

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A firefighting helicopter can be seen (top left) hovering over a lake, refilling to fight a portion of the Schultz Fire as it burned approximately five miles north of Flagstaff, Arizona, on June 22, 2010. (Image courtesy of GeoEye) #

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A group of tourists bathe in the mineral-rich waters of the southern Dead Sea at the resort area of Ein Boqek, Israel, on November 10, 2011. (Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images) #

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The Thematic Mapper on NASA's Landsat 5 satellite captured this image of Vancouver, British Columbia, on September 7, 2011. Flowing through braided channels, the Fraser River meanders toward the sea, emptying through multiple outlets. (NASA Earth Observatory image created by Robert Simmon and Jesse Alle) #

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On January 4, 2012, these cloud formations developed over the Bering Sea in part because of the snow and ice blanketing the land and the sea ice clinging to the coast. Air blowing over ice and then warmer ocean water can lead to the development of parallel cylinders of spinning air. On the upper edge of these cylinders of rising air, small clouds form. Along the downward side (descending air), skies are clear. The resulting cloud formations resemble streets. (NASA, LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team) #

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The Mecca Clock Tower in the Grand Mosque of the holy city of Mecca during the annual Hajj pilgrimage, on November 7, 2011. (Fayez Nureldine/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Tropical Cyclone Funso, observed by MODIS on NASA's Aqua satellite, on January 26, 2012. The storm went on to affect Mozambique and Malawi, causing floods and claiming some 40 lives. (NASA, Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team) #

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A portion of Malaspina Glacier in southeastern Alaska, with runoff streams leading to the Gulf of Alaska. Malaspina is the largest piedmont glacier in the world, a type of glacier that spills from high mountains, spreading out across a low flat plain. Malaspina Glacier covers an area of 3,900 square kilometers (1,500 sq mi). (TerraMetrics, GeoEye, Google, Inc.) #

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A fisherman in floodwaters in Ayutthaya province, north of Bangkok, on November 19, 2011. (Pornchai Kittiwongsakul/AFP/Getty Images) #

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An Oblique view of Antarctica and the South Shetland Islands, seen from orbit, aboard the ISS, on October 4, 2011. (NASA) #

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An oil tanker drives through desertified land in Hengshan county, northwest China's Shaanxi province, on June 1, 2011. (Reuters/Rooney Chen) #

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A development on one of the islands of "The World Islands" project in Dubai, on January 7, 2012. The collection of man-made islands are shaped into the continents of the world, and will consist of 300 small private artificial islands divided into four categories - private homes, estate homes, dream resorts, and community islands, according to the development company Nakheel Properties Group. (Reuters/Jumana El Heloueh) #

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Seasonal asparagus harvesters work on their vegetable crops near Elsholz, Germany, in this photo taken on April 17, 2012. (AP Photo/dapd, Klaus-Dietmar Gabbert) #

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A view of the Isiboro Secure indigenous territory and national park, known by its Spanish acronym TIPNIS, in Beni, Bolivia, on September 16, 2011. Bolivian President Evo Morales faced strong resistance from within his indigenous support base over government plans to build a 185-mile wide (300 km) highway through the Amazon forest. (Reuters/Daniel Caballero/Bolivian Presidency) #

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This astronaut photograph from the International Space Station highlights the southeastern part of the Southern United States at night, including the eastern Gulf of Mexico and lower Atlantic Seaboard states. The brightly lit metropolitan areas of Atlanta, Georgia (image center) and Jacksonville, Florida (image lower right) appear largest in the image with numerous other urban areas forming an interconnected network of light across the region. A large dark region to the northwest of Jacksonville, FL is the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. Photo taken on January 29, 2012. (NASA)

Wrong turns: Longleat maze is the largest in Britain

Wrong turns: Longleat maze near Bath is the largest in Britain

Earlier today, a Soyuz-FG rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying an International Space Station (ISS) crew into orbit. Baikonur, Russia's primary space launch facility since the 1950s, is the largest in the world, and supports multiple launches of both manned and unmanned rockets every year. With the U.S. manned space program currently on hold, Baikonur is now the sole launching point for trips to the ISS. Gathered here is a look at the facility, some of the cosmonaut training programs in Star City outside of Moscow, and a few recent launches and landings

 

The Russian Soyuz TMA-19 spaceship that will carry a crew to the International Space Station sits on the launch pad at the Russian-leased Baikonur Cosmodrome in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on June 13, 2010. (AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev)

The Russian Soyuz TMA-19 spaceship that will carry a crew to the International Space Station sits on the launch pad at the Russian-leased Baikonur Cosmodrome in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on June 13, 2010. (AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev)

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International Space Station (ISS) crew members U.S. astronaut Joseph Acaba (left) and Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka (center) and Sergei Revin demonstrate their space suits at the Baikonur cosmodrome, on May 3, 2012. (Reuters/Sergei Remezov) #

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The centrifuge used for training cosmonauts at the Star City space center outside Moscow, on February 21, 2011. (Reuters/Sergei Remezov) #

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ISS crew member Russian cosmonaut Sergei Revin inside the Soyuz spacecraft as he goes through training and acquaintance procedures inside the Soyuz spacecraft at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, on May 3, 2012. (Reuters/Sergei Remezov) #

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A Soyuz space capsule in a forest during a complex training on emergency landing at a marshy wooded site in winter, with members of an expedition to the ISS, on January 31, 2012. It is a part of their training program preparing for a space flight to the International Space Station scheduled for April 2013. (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel) #

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Members of an expedition to the ISS, Russian Cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov, left, and Alexander Misurkin, right, and US astronaut Christopher Cassidy, center, prepare a fire near their tent in a forest during emergency landing training at a marshy wooded site at Star City, outside Moscow, Russia, on January 31, 2012. (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel) #

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At the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft is shown before the its encapsulation into its payload fairing, on December 9, 2010. (NASA/Victor Zelentsov) #

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The Progress cargo vessel, surrounded by service towers, in its assembling hangar at Baikonur cosmodrome, on December 20, 2011. (Reuters/Shamil Zhumatov) #

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The Russian Soyuz TMA-01M spaceship that will carry new crew to the international space station is transported from hangar to the launch pad at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, on October 5, 2010. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky) #

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Security guards and photographers gather near the Russian Soyuz TMA-19 spaceship as it is transported from a hangar to the launch pad at the Russian-leased Baikonur Cosmodrome in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on June 13, 2010. (AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev) #

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Spectators try to grab the highest viewing point to watch the launch of the Soyuz with Expedition 13 crew members, on March 30, 2006. (NASA/Bill Ingalls) #

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The Soyuz TMA-13 spacecraft arrives at the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, on October 10, 2008, tilting into place for launch. (NASA/Bill Ingalls) #

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A Russian Orthodox priest blesses the Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft at Baikonur Cosmodrome on June 14, 2010. (Vyacheslav Oseledko/AFP/Getty Images) #

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The Soyuz-FG rocket booster with Soyuz TMA-21 space ship carrying a new crew to the ISS, lifts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, on April 5, 2011. Circular star tracks and the trail of the rocket are the result of the long time exposure. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky) #

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A Russian Soyuz TMA-19 rocket blasts off from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome on June 16, 2010 on its way to the ISS. The mission was the last launch by a Soyuz rocket to the ISS before the US space shuttle program was mothballed. (Vyacheslav Oseledko/AFP/Getty Images) #

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U.S. astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson takes part in an examination at the Star City space center outside Moscow, on March 12, 2010. (Reuters/Sergei Remezov) #

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A mockup of the International Space Station in the pool at the Russian Cosmonauts Training Center at the Star City outside Moscow, on February 18, 2011. The center is Russia's main facility for training of space crews. (AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev) #

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Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka listens to a specialist before plunging into a swimming pool as part of a training session at the Star City space center outside Moscow, on July 29, 2011. (Reuters/Sergei Remezov) #

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Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi dives in a space suit during a refresher training excercise at the Cosmonaut training center at Star City, Russia, on January 23, 2012. (Reuters/Sergei Remezov) #

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U.S. astronaut Michael E. Fossum (right) and Russian cosmonaut Sergey Volkov take part in an emergency situation exercise at the Russian cosmonaut training center in Star City, on May 6, 2011. (Reuters/Sergei Remezov) #

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Entrepreneur Charles Simonyi of the U.S. (right) sits in a chair during vestibular training at the Space Training Center in Star City, on February 4, 2009, as he prepares for a trip to the International Space Station. (Reuters/Sergei Remezov) #

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Members of an expedition to the International Space Station, US astronaut Karen Nyberg, left, Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano, right, and Russian cosmonaut Maxim Suraev train in Noginsk, outside Moscow, on August 18, 2011. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze) #

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A Proton-M rocket, carrying a Nimiq 6 communication satellite is transported to the launch pad at Russian leased Kazakhstan's Baikonur cosmodrome, on May 14, 2012. (AFP/Getty Images) #

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Russian cosmonaut Sergey Volkov sits under observation in a pressure chamber at the Russian space training camp in Star City, Russia, on April 6, 2011. (Reuters/Sergei Remezov) #

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Winners of the annual Red Bull Flugtag competition pose for a photo in zero gravity conditions during a flight in a cosmonaut training plane above the Moscow region, on March 1, 2012. (Reuters/Sergei Remezov) #

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Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, a member of an ISS crew, signs the door of his room before leaving the hotel for a final pre-launch preparation at Baikonur Cosmodrome, on May 15, 2012. (Reuters/Sergei Remezov) #

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Russian police officers guard the Soyuz TMA-22 spaceship which will carry a new crew to the ISS, during its transportation from a hangar to the launch pad at the Russian leased Baikonur Cosmodrome, on November 11, 2011. (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel) #

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In a long-exposure image, service towers move away from the Russian Soyuz TMA-01M spacecraft carrying an ISS crew of U.S. astronaut Scott Kelly, Russian cosmonauts Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka, a few minutes before blast off at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, on October 8, 2010. (Reuters/Shamil Zhumatov) #

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The Soyuz TMA-04M spacecraft launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on May 15, 2012, carrying Expedition 31 Soyuz Commander Gennady Padalka, NASA Flight Engineer Joseph Acaba and Flight Engineer Sergei Revin to the International Space Station. (AP Photo/NASA, Bill Ingalls) #

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Cameramen film as the Soyuz TMA-04M spacecraft carrying an ISS crew of three, blasts off from its launch pad at Baikonur Cosmodrome, on May 15, 2012. (Reuters/Shamil Zhumatov) #

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The Soyuz-FG rocket booster with Soyuz TMA-02M space ship carrying a new crew to the ISS, flies above the Baikonur Cosmodrome, on June 8, 2011. The Russian rocket carried U.S. astronaut Michael Fossum, Russian cosmonaut Sergey Volkov and Japanese astronaut Satoshi Furukawa. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky) #

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The Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft approaches the ISS on October 2, 2009, carrying NASA astronaut Jeffrey Williams, Russian cosmonaut Maxim Suraev and Canadian spaceflight participant Guy Laliberte. (AP Photo/NASA) #

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During ISS Expedition 20, on June 16, 2009, a photograph taken from orbit of the Baikonur area in Kazakhstan, and the Syrdar'ya River. (NASA) #

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A helicopter crew gets ready at Arkalyk airfield in preparation for the recovery mission of the Soyuz TMA-02M spacecraft with ISS crew of U.S. astronaut Michael Fossum, Russian cosmonaut Sergey Volkov and Japanese astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, near the town of Arkalyk in northern Kazakhstan, on November 22, 2011. (Reuters/Shamil Zhumatov) #

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A Russian Soyuz TMA-21 space capsule descends about 150 km south-east of the Kazakh town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, on September 16, 2011. (AP Photo/Sergei Ilnitsky) #

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A group of Russian rescue service helicopters flies over Kazakh steppe on the way from Kostanai to Arkalyk on October 23, 2008. US space tourist Richard Garriott returned from the ISS in a Soyuz capsule landing in Arkalyk, on October 24 with Russian cosmonauts Sergei Volkov and Oleg Kononenko, who had been in orbit since April. (AP Photo/Dmitry Kostyukov) #

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The Soyuz TMA-22 capsule carrying International Space Station (ISS) crew members U.S. astronaut Daniel Burbank and Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin, lands in Kazakhstan, some 88km (55 miles) north-east of Arkalyk, on April 27, 2012. (Reuters/Kirill Kudryavtsev/Pool) #

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ISS crew members, U.S. astronaut Daniel Burbank and Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin, crowded inside their Soyuz capsule shortly after landing in Kazakhstan, on April 27, 2012. (Reuters/Sergei Remezov) #

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Russian support personnel arrive to help meet the Soyuz TMA-02M spacecraft shortly after the capsule landed with Expedition 29 Commander Mike Fossum, and Flight Engineers Sergei Volkov and Satoshi Furukawa in a remote area outside of the town of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, on November 22, 2011. (AP Photo/NASA/Bill Ingalls) #

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Russian support personnel work to help get Expedition 29 crew members out of the Soyuz TMA-02M spacecraft shortly after the capsule landed on November 22, 2011. (AP Photo/NASA/Bill Ingalls) #

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European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Frank De Winne of Belgium eats an apple in a vehicle after he returned to earth in the Russian Soyuz TMA-15 capsule in the steppe near the town of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, on December 1, 2009. (AP Photo/Sergey Remezov) #


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(Bonus: 1 of 3) This is a composite of a series of images photographed from a mounted camera on the Earth-orbiting International Space Station, from approximately 240 miles above Earth, released on March 22, 2012. Expedition 31 Flight Engineer (and photographer) Don Pettit: "My star trail images are made by taking a time exposure of about 10 to 15 minutes. However, with modern digital cameras, 30 seconds is about the longest exposure possible, due to electronic detector noise effectively snowing out the image. To achieve the longer exposures I do what many amateur astronomers do. I take multiple 30-second exposures, then 'stack' them using imaging software, thus producing the longer exposure." A total of 46 images photographed by the astronaut-monitored stationary camera in the Cupola were combined to create this composite. (NASA/Don Pettit) #

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(2 of 3) A composite of a series of images photographed from the ISS, released on March 17, 2012. Space station hardware in the foreground includes the Mini-Research Module (MRM1, center) and a Russian Progress vehicle docked to the Pirs Docking Compartment (right). A total of 47 images photographed by the astronaut-monitored stationary camera were combined to create this composite. (NASA/Don Pettit) #

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(3 of 3) A composite of a series of images photographed from the ISS, released on March 16, 2012. A total of 18 images photographed by the astronaut-monitored stationary camera were combined to create this composite. (NASA/Don Pettit)