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This chapter describes the KidSat camera itself, and how it is set up and operated during a space shuttle flight; it also defines the camera "footprint" (the area on the ground captured in a photograph), and briefly describes its dependence on the camera lens and the space shuttle altitude.

In this chapter we have provided some details about the camera, and details regarding the calculation of the camera footprint, that are not essential - but they may be of some interest to you and your students.

Background

The KidSat camera flew on the space shuttle for the first time in March, 1996, on STS-76.  During that flight, students participating in KidSat took over 320 photographs of the Earth.  The camera is a digital camera, not a film camera; the KidSat photographs were actually digital images that can be stored on a computer and transmitted to Earth while the shuttle is still in orbit.  A few of the best KidSat photographs taken during STS-76 are available for viewing at the following website:

http://earthrise.sdsc/earthrise/kidsat

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