An astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) centered this photograph on Belle Isle, an island in the Detroit River. Late 17th century French settlers called the waterway Rivière Détroit, which translates to “River of the Strait.”

The Detroit River stretches approximately 45 kilometers (30 miles) and provides connectivity between the upper Great Lakes and the Saint Lawrence Seaway. Iron ore, mined from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and northern Minnesota, makes up more than 50 percent of the commodities passing through the Port of Detroit. In the photo, a few large ships are visible passing along the narrow strait. The river serves as the international border between the United States and Canada, following along the southern channel and making Belle Isle part of the U.S.

Belle Isle is a park with attractions including a museum, zoo, aquarium, conservatory, and athletic fields. Since 1992, the island has been temporarily transformed into a raceway several times to host what is formally known as the Detroit Grand Prix.

On the U.S. side of the river lies Michigan’s most populous city, Detroit, famously nicknamed the Motor City. Automobile production has driven the economy in Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario, since the early 1900s, with the largest American automotive companies headquarters around and within Detroit. More than 2 million motor vehicles per year have been produced in Michigan in nearly every year since 1990.

The Detroit-Windsor international crossing has the highest number of freight truck containers passing across the U.S.–Canadian border each year, with automobiles and vehicle parts being one of the top commodities.

Astronaut photograph ISS055-E-23376 was acquired on April 12, 2018, with a Nikon D5 digital camera using an 1150 millimeter lens and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Johnson Space Center. The image was taken by a member of the Expedition 55 crew. The image has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast, and lens artifacts have been removed. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory as part of the ISS National Lab to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth. Caption by Andrea Meado, Jacobs Technology, JETS Contract at NASA-JSC.