On January 27, 1967, tragedy struck the Apollo program when a flash fire occurred in command module 012 during a launch pad test of the Apollo/Saturn space vehicle being prepared for the first piloted flight, the AS-204 mission. Three astronauts, Lt. Col. Virgil I. Grissom (ABOVE LEFT), a veteran of Mercury and Gemini missions; Lt. Col. Edward H. White (ABOVE MIDDLE), the astronaut who had performed the first United States extravehicular activity during the Gemini program; and Roger B. Chaffee (ABOVE RIGHT), an astronaut preparing for his first space flight, died in this tragic accident.

http://www.battlestarnewyork.com/astro.html

After you look at the picture - scroll to the bottom to read the description and then back to the picture. Really beautiful sight for anyone to see.

THIS PHOTO IS ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL. BE SURE TO READ THE TEXT BELOW TO HAVE A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT YOU ARE VIEWING. IT IS HISTORIC TOO AS THIS IS THE LAST MISSION FOR COLUMBIA.

The photograph attached was taken by the crew on board the Columbia during its last mission, on a cloudless day.

The picture is of Europe and Africa when the sun is setting. Half of the picture is in night. The bright dots you see are
the cities lights.

The top part of Africa is the Sahara Desert.
Note that the lights are already on in Holland, Paris, and Barcelona, and that's it's still daylight in Dublin, London, Lisbon,
and Madrid.

The sun is still shining on the Strait of Gibraltar. The Mediterranean Sea is already in darkness.
In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean you can see the Azores Islands; below them to the right are the Madeira Islands; a bit
below are the Canary Islands; and further South, close to the farthest western point of Africa, are the Cape Verde islands.

Note that the Sahara is huge and can be seen clearly both during Daytime and night time.

To the left, on top, is Greenland, totally frozen.