Throughout the more than 40-year history of manned spaceflight, astronauts have taken hundreds of thusands of photographs of Earth from orbit. Turkey, with its volcanic mountains, beautiful rivers and lakes, more than 8.000 km of shoreline, straits and an inner sea, is one of the most beautiful countries on the Earth´s surface. Featuring more than 200 photographs taken by astronauts on board five space shuttles, the International Space Station and Mir Space Station, this book tells the past and present of a land that is literally the cradle of many civilzations.