Feb 22 2000
From The Space Library
Shuttle Endeavour returned safely to Earth after a successful 11-day voyage. The scientific community and the public greeted the Shuttle's return with even more fanfare than usual, because the crew had obtained stunning images of Earth. Endeavour's six-person crew had worked nearly around the clock, keeping radar antennas running to compile the data for three-dimensional digital maps of Earth's surface. The crew had gathered more than 300 digital tapes of radar data during the mission, which NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin called "one of the most challenging, difficult missions we ever undertook." The mission had successfully mapped 43.5 million square miles (113 million square kilometers) of Earth's terrain. NASA and the National Imagery and Mapping Agency expected that transferring the data into readable maps would take between one and two years. NASA had obtained the images primarily for the U.S. Department of Defense, to improve the accuracy of missiles and to assist in navigation for military planes and troops.
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