Earth Observations taken by the Expedition 13 crew

ISS013-E-18319 (12 May 2006) --- Munich International Airport, Germany is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 13 crewmember on the International Space Station. The Franz Joseph Strauss, or Munich, International Airport served 29 million passengers in 2005, making it the second-busiest airport (behind Frankfurt) in Germany. It is the busiest airport in Germany in terms of domestic passengers, serving over 9 million travelers during 2005. The airport serves the Bayern (Bavaria) region of southeastern Germany, and is a hub for the Lufthansa airline. Like other large international airports around the world, the facility occupies portions of multiple municipalities: Freising, Oberding, Hallbergmoos, and Marzling. The village of Franzheim was demolished, and its 500 residents relocated, during the airport construction. The airport is located 31 kilometers to the northeast of Munich; rather than being an extension of the metropolis, it is surrounded by agricultural fields and small towns. Expansion of the airport occurred in 2003 with the additional of Terminal 2, designed specifically to accommodate the needs of Lufthansa and its partner airlines. This view taken is sufficiently detailed to distinguish individual airplanes on the terminal apron as well as the dark gray-blue rooftop of Terminal 2. The white concrete airport runways are 4 kilometers in length. Surrounding agricultural fields in active use are a variety of shades of green, while the exposed soil of fallow fields are brown to tan.