Earth observations taken during STS-75

STS075-721-013 (22 Feb.-9 March 1996) --- Snow caps the line of the Himalayas in this 70mm frame photographed by a crew member using a handheld 70mm camera. The green plain of the Ganges-lower Brahamaputra is to the south (left) and the brown Tibetan Plateau desert to the right. The Brahamaputra River, 1,800 miles long, rises on the Tibetan Plateau (top) at the foot of a glacier at the elevation of 22,000 feet. It flows east (towards the camera) for more than half its length, and then descends onto the low plains through some of the deepest gorges in the world. In the low country of northeastern India (left side of photo), it flows west to meet the Ganges. Rainfall totals in this part of the Himalayas are some of the highest in the world, measuring 400 inches at Cherapunji on the Himalayan slopes center left. It has a drainage area of 250,000 square miles.