Explanation:
While orbiting the planet during
their June 1998 mission, the crew of the
Space Shuttle Discovery photographed
this view of two moons of Earth.
Thick storm clouds are visible in the lovely blue planet's
nurturing atmosphere
and, what was then Earth's largest artificial moon, the spindly
Russian
Mir Space Station can be seen above the planet's limb.
The bright spot to the right of Mir is Earth's
very
large natural satellite, The Moon.
The
Mir orbited
planet Earth once every 90 minutes
about 200 miles above the planet's surface or about 4,000 miles
from Earth's center.
The Moon orbits once every 28 days at a
distance of about 250,000 miles from
the center of
the Earth.
