Three images of various angles of the globe, one centered on East Asia and Oceania, the center on the Americas, the right on Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. All images are showing the globe from a northern hemisphere tilt. The land masses are all depicted in gray with a red gridded overlay.

Mission to Map the Elevation of Earth

It took feats of engineering and deft piloting to map the planet’s topography, an achievement that continues to pay dividends decades later. View the full story

Credits: NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison