On the night of August 30-31, 2009, the Station Fire north of the city of Los Angeles spread in three directions and doubled in size, according to the Los Angeles Times. Two fire fighters had been killed and at least at least 18 homes in Tujunga Canyon had burned as of the morning of August 31. According to the Incident Information System, the Station Fire covered 85,760 acres as of the morning of August 31, 2009. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this true-color image around 11:45 a.m. local time (18:45 UTC) on August 30, 2009. Red outlines indicate hotspots of anomalously high surface temperatures associated with wildfires. In this image, the hotspots remain west of Mt. Wilson. The site of critical communication centers, Mt. Wilson had not burned but was threatened by the fire as of August 31, according to the Los Angeles Times. Smoke from the fire blows toward the northeast in this image. Clouds, perhaps mixed with some smoke, linger over Los Angeles.

(30 Aug. 2009) - Backdropped by the blackness of space, the International Space Station is featured in this image photographed by an STS-128 crew member as Space Shuttle Discovery and the station approach each other during rendezvous and docking activities on flight day three. Docking occurred at 8:54 PM EST on Aug. 30, 2009.

(30 Aug. 2009) - Space Shuttle Discovery is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 20 crew member as the shuttle approaches the International Space Station during STS-128 rendezvous and docking operations.

(30 Aug. 2009) - This is one of a series of 400mm survey digital still photographs of the Space Shuttle Discovery as it performed a full 360-degree backflip. The series of photos were made by the Expedition 20 crew onboard the International Space Station as the two spacecraft drew near to each other on STS-128's third flight day.

This is one of a series of 800mm survey digital still photographs of the Space Shuttle Discovery as it performed a full 360-degree backflip. The series of photos were made by the Expedition 20 crew onboard the International Space Station as the two spacecraft drew near to each other on STS-128's third flight day. This view shows almost the entire top portion of Discovery, including the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (Leonardo) in the cargo bay.

30 Aug. 2009) - This is one of a series of 400mm survey digital still photographs of the Space Shuttle Discovery as it performed a full 360-degree backflip. The series of photos were made by the Expedition 20 crew onboard the International Space Station as the two spacecraft drew near to each other on STS-128's third flight day.

(August 30th, 2009) - This is one of a series of 400mm survey digital still photographs of the Space Shuttle Discovery as it performed a full 360-degree backflip. The series of photos were made by the Expedition 20 crew onboard the International Space Station as the two spacecraft drew near to each other on STS-128's third flight day.

Very young impact crater in Balmer basin. The dark streamers are impact melt splashes thrown out during the crater formation, image 1302 meters wide Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University.