While orbiting the planet during their June 1998 mission, the crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] photographed this view [ http://www.spacefli…sts-91/html/91711028 .html ] of two moons of Earth. Thick storm clouds are visible in the lovely blue planet's nurturing atmosphere [ http://wwwt.ncep.no…] and, what was then Earth's largest artificial moon, the spindly Russian Mir Space Station [ http://science.nasa…] can be seen above the planet's limb. The bright spot to the right of Mir is Earth's very large natural satellite [ http://lunar.arc.na…], The Moon. The Mir [ http://www.russians…] orbited planet Earth [ http://nssdc.gsfc.n…earthfact.html ] once every 90 minutes about 200 miles above the planet's surface or about 4,000 miles from Earth's center. The Moon [ http://nssdc.gsfc.n…moonfact.html ] orbits once every 28 days at a distance of about 250,000 miles from the center of the Earth [ http://jv.gilead.or…].
