Photo: Great Salt Lake As Seen From Orbit

As in the case of many previous space missions, the Great Salt Lake in Utah serves as a striking visual marker for the STS-135 astronauts orbiting over North America in the space shuttle Atlantis. A sharp line across the lake’s center is caused by the restriction in water flow from the railroad causeway. The eye-catching colors of the lake stem from the fact that Great Salt Lake is hypersaline, typically 3-5 times saltier than the ocean. Photo credit: NASA S135-E-006466 (9 July 2011) — high res (1.4 M) low res (88 K)