A new image of Earth: The flight of European astronaut Gerhard Thiele on STS-99 in 2000

Dr. Gerhard Thiele participated as a mission specialist on the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) on board STS-99, February 11–22, 2000. The mission goal was the three-dimensional digital mapping of the Earth’s surface. This chapter contains Dr. Thiele’s own account of his space mission.