SPACEPHOTOS

This photograph of the eruption of Kliuchevskoi volcano, Kamchatka, Russia was taken by space shuttle Endeavour astronauts during the early hours of the eruption on September 30, 1994. The ash plume, which reached heights of more than 18 kilometers (50,000 feet), is emerging from a vent on the north flank of Kliuchevskoi, partially hidden by the plume and its shadow in this view. The photograph is oriented with north toward the bottom, for comparison with the Spaceborne Imaging Radar C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) image (P-44823) that was acquired a few days later. Near the center of the photo, a small whitish steam plume may be seen emanating from the growing lava dome of a companion volcano, Bezymianny.