This image of the Aral Sea was acquired in August of 1964 by a United States Argon intelligence mapping/geodesy satellite.  
<p>KH-5 Mission 9064-A (incorrectly mislabeled 9066-A in the USGS archive) carried the A-22 mapping camera.  A TAT-Agena carried this camera into an orbit of 114.96 degrees of inclination with a period of 84 minutes, a perigee of 219 degrees and an apogee of 232 degrees.
</p><p>International Launch Designation: 1964-043A
</p><p>Launch Date: August 21, 1964
</p>
Mission Duration: approximately 6 days
Image from the U.S. Air Force KH-5 9066A reconnaissance satellite, the last of the Argon series.
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=77193">The Aral Sea, Before the Streams Ran Dry</a> - NASA Earth Observatory