STS079-808-008 (16-26 Sept. 1996) --- In this 70mm frame from the space shuttle Atlantis, the Nile River wanders through the eastern Sahara Desert of Sudan and Egypt. In the foreground is a great bend of the Nile from north to south past the Fourth Cataract at Merowe (an ancient Sudanese dynastic capitol), then north past Dongola and the Third Cararact, to Lake Nasser in Egypt. Prominent sand streaks display a north-south alignment. North of the first great bend a thick dust storm completely obscures the land surface, near Merowe thinner dust creates a hazy look. In the distance the Red Sea stretches from Suez to southern Arabia.