Houston, Hurricanes, and Astronaut Photography
A story map from the Earth Science and Remote Sensing unit at NASA Johnson Space Center.
Astronauts have taken photos of the Earth and Houston since the beginning of manned space flight.
Here is a false-color image taken of Galveston, TX in 1969 during the Apollo 9 mission.
Feel free to move the map around to explore the photos as you scroll down.
Next is an astronaut photo focusing on Galveston Bay taken from Space Shuttle Columbia during STS055 in 1985.
Recently, astronauts on board the International Space Station took this photo of Houston on February 7, 2020.
Let's look at a history of hurricanes and Houston through astronaut photos.
A hurricane near Puerto Rico photographed from the International Space Station in 2017.
Galveston, TX on October 10, 1985, before Hurricane Juan hit the region.
This astronaut photo was taken during STS51J from Space Shuttle Atlantis.
Hurricane Juan made landfall near Louisiana later that month.
After photo of Galveston, TX taken on November 3, 1985 during STS 61A.
This astronaut photo, taken days after Hurricane Juan made landfall, shows Galveston Bay full of sediment, pouring into the Gulf of Mexico.
Zoom in on Galveston Island after Hurricane Ike hit in October 2008.
Hurricane Ike caused widespread wind damage to the greater Houston area.
Galveston Bay after Hurricane Harvey hit in 2017. This photo was taken on August 31, 2017 by astronauts on the ISS052 crew.
Hurricane Harvey caused widespread flooding to the Houston area. This photo shows large plumes of sediment flowing from flooding rivers and Galveston Bay into the Gulf of Mexico.
Astronaut photo of Hurricane Harvey ISS052-E-74258, 08/24/2017
At NASA Johnson Space Center, astronauts are trained to photograph the eyes of hurricanes and to look for visible damage or flooding along coastlines.
Astronaut photo ISS056-E-162046 taken on 09/12/2018
A close look into the eye of a major storm. ISS056-E-162074 , 09/12/2018
From orbit...
Astronauts take photos of flooding to help with disaster response.
...to outcrop.
Astronaut candidates examine storm deposits from sediment layers at Bolivar Peninsula.
The 2017 astronaut candidate class digging trenches at Bolivar to observe previous hurricane and storm deposits. Graff, T., et al., 201 8
Houston at night, astronaut photo ISS045-E-45285, 10/6/2015
