Astronauts on Space Shuttle Atlantis took this photo, looking nearly straight down onto South Mountain and the Sierra Estrella, from 231 miles (372km) above Phoenix.  This view shows in amazing detail the stretched domes of the South Mountains (just above the center of the picture) and the Alta Ridge (just above that and to the left).
   The Gila River runs from the lower right corner of the picture, past South Mountain on its left (west) end, to the base of the Estrella Mountains, and then past their north end.  Downtown Phoenix is at the top edge of the picture, midway from left to right.
   "Stretching" of South Mountain is evident, along a northeast (top right) - southwest (bottom left) direction.  This "" lies almost perpendicular to the northwest - southeast trend of the Sierra Estrella, a "" set of mountains.
   This photograph (# STS079-810-23) was taken on September 23, 1996, at 9:32am Arizona Time.  There are many more great pictures from space on the NASA website.
 
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   See the GeoHistory page if you want to know more about why the landscape looks the way it does, or return to the map of "The Rocks of the Valley of the Sun" for more view locations.
   You can also send this as an E-Postcard to your friends!     -120417-