Images Dated 2000

Space Shuttle Atlantis roars into space on mission STS-106

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- Space Shuttle Atlantis clears the tower as it roars into space on mission STS-106 after a perfect on-time launch at 8:45:47 a.m. EDT. On the 11-day mission to the International Space Station, the seven-member crew will perform support tasks on orbit, transfer supplies and prepare the living quarters in the newly arrived Zvezda Service Module. The first long-duration crew, dubbed ?Expedition One,? is due to arrive at the Station in late fall. Landing of Atlantis is targeted for 4:45 a.m. EDT on Sept. 19

Autumn colors and mist at sunrise, Blue Ridge Mountains from Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina, USA

The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. This province consists of northern and southern physiographic regions, which divide near the Roanoke River gap. The mountain range is located in the eastern United States, starting at its southernmost portion in Georgia, then ending northward in Pennsylvania. The Blue Ridge Mountains are noted for having a bluish color when seen from a distance. Trees put the blue in Blue Ridge, from the isoprene released into the atmosphere, thereby contributing to the characteristic haze on the mountains and their distinctive color

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Road and rock formation in Jemez Valley, New Mexico, USA

Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the deposition and subsequent cementation of mineral or organic particles on the floor of oceans or other bodies of water at the Earth's surface. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles to settle in place. The particles that form a sedimentary rock are called sediment, and may be composed of geological detritus (minerals) or biological detritus (organic matter). Before being deposited, the geological detritus was formed by weathering and erosion from the source area, and then transported to the place of deposition by water, wind, ice, mass movement or glaciers, which are called agents of denudation. Biological detritus was formed by bodies and parts (mainly shells) of dead aquatic organisms, as well as their fecal mass, suspended in water and slowly piling up on the floor of water bodies (marine snow). Sedimentation may also occur as dissolved minerals precipitate from water solution

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