Earth Observations taken by the Expedition 11 crew

ISS011-E-06712 (22 May 2005) --- Uralsk, Kazakhstan is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 11 crew member on the international space station. The rough boundary between Europe and Asia is defined by the Ural River and the Ural Mountains to its north. The Ural River flows to the great inland Caspian Sea, and gives its name to the major city of Uralsk (population approximately 250,000) on its banks. Lying just inside the Kazakh border with Russia, Uralsk is an agricultural and industrial center, and important trade stop since the early 1600s. Barge traffic has passed up and down the Ural River between the Caspian Sea and the Ural Mountains for centuries. Today it is one of the major entry points for rail traffic from Europe to Siberia, servicing the many new oil fields in the Caspian basin and the industrial cities of the southern Urals. Numerous details are visible in the photo, including the city margin, city blocks and even the causeway and individual buildings. Part of the smaller sister city of Zashaghan can be seen on the opposite bank (bottom). The green vegetated parts of the floodplains and black inundated parts (lower left, bottom image) stand out clearly. The brown Ural River waters contrast with the darker color of its tributary, the Chogan River (lower image).