The above quite amazing images shows planet earth (terra) from "Earth parking orbit" which is about 40,000 miles above the outer layers of the earth's atmosphere. This picture was taken by the Apollo 17 astronauts as the approached re-entry in March 1972. It has since been affectionatley named "Home Sweet Home". Cool oder ?? (and I didn't think it'd fit in my page!)

Arising from seeing images such as this German astronaut Sigmund Jahn made the following statement on his return to earth. (thanks again to NASA) "...Before I flew I was already aware of how small and vunerable our planet is; but only when I saw it from space, in all its beauty and fragility did I realise that human kind's most urgent task is to cherish and preserve it for future generations..."

Wise words indeed - be green and be cool !

************************* IMAGE 2 ************************* Below is a picture of the famous Barringer Crater imact site in the Arizona desert, USA. The meteor impacted millions of years ago and made this hole - many more are thought to have hit also, much bigger than this, possibly causing the distinction of the dinosaurs ! A meteor the size of a can of beans made this size hole ! and you have about as much chance of dying in a plane crash as you have of dying from Earth meteor impacts !! Arrgh !

IMAGE 3 ************************* Image 3 at the screen's bottom is of the Terran system - Earth and moon, taken by Voyager on its way to Saturn in the early '80s.

Don't forget to check all my picture pages - I spent ages looking for them and another age getting permission. Ciao