Capturing Space Stories, One Click at a Time!

It’s World Photography Day!

To celebrate the occasion, we’re sharing photos from our photographers that chronicle what’s making news across the agency – from launches and landings to important science announcements to images taken from the vantage point of space.

Take a look!

A Closer View of the Moon 

Posted to Twitter by European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst, this image shows our planet’s Moon as seen from the International Space Station. As he said in the tweet, “By orbiting the Earth almost 16 times per day, the #ISS crew travel the distance to the Moon and back – every day. #Horizons”

The International Space Station is the world’s only orbital laboratory. An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the station. The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada.

Photo Credit: NASA

Spacewalk Selfie

NASA astronaut Ricky Arnold took this selfie during the May 16, 2018, spacewalk to perform upgrades on the International Space Station, saying in a tweet “An amazing view of our one and only planet.”

Arnold and fellow spacewalker Drew Feustel donned spacesuits and worked for more than six hours outside the station to finish upgrading cooling system hardware and install new and updated communications equipment for future dockings of commercial crew spacecraft.

Photo Credit: NASA

Preparing to Leave Earth

The mobile service tower at Space Launch Complex-3 is rolled back to reveal the United Launch Alliance Atlas-V rocket with NASA’s InSight spacecraft onboard, Friday, May 4, 2018, at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, is a Mars lander designed to study the “inner space” of Mars: its crust, mantle, and core. 

Photo Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Launch Long Exposure

The United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket is seen in this long exposure photograph as it launches NASA’s Parker Solar Probe to touch the Sun, Sunday, Aug. 12, 2018 from Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. Parker Solar Probe is humanity’s first-ever mission into a part of the Sun’s atmosphere called the corona.  Here it will directly explore solar processes that are key to understanding and forecasting space weather events that can impact life on Earth.

Photo Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Waving Farewell

Expedition 56 flight engineer Serena Auñón-Chancellor of NASA waves farewell to family and friends as she and Soyuz Commander Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos and flight engineer Alexander Gerst of European Space Agency depart Building 254 for the launch pad a few hours before their launch, Wednesday, June 6, 2018 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Auñón-Chancellor, Prokopyev, and Gerst launched aboard the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft at 7:12am EDT (5:12pm Baikonur time) on June 6 to begin their journey to the International Space Station.

Photo Credit: NASA/Victor Zelentsov

Launching Humans to Space

The Soyuz MS-09 rocket is launched with Expedition 56 Soyuz Commander Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos, flight engineer Serena Auñón-Chancellor of NASA, and flight engineer Alexander Gerst of ESA (European Space Agency), Wednesday, June 6, 2018 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Prokopyev, Auñón-Chancellor, and Gerst will spend the next six months living and working aboard the International Space Station. 

Photo Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

Rethinking Aircraft Design

In an effort to improve fuel efficiency, NASA

and the aircraft industry are rethinking aircraft design. Inside the 8’ x 6’

wind tunnel at NASA Glenn Research Center, engineers tested a fan and inlet design, commonly

called a propulsor, which could use four to eight percent less fuel than

today’s advanced aircraft.

Photo Credit: NASA/Rami Daud

Flying Observatory

SOFIA, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, is the largest airborne observatory in the world, capable of making observations that are impossible for even the largest and highest ground-based telescopes. During its lifetime, SOFIA also will inspire the development of new scientific instrumentation and foster the education of young scientists and engineers.

Photo Credit: NASA/SOFIA/Waynne Williams

Experimenting with Venus-like conditions

A close-up view of crystals that developed on

materials exposed to conditions on Venus in NASA Glenn’s Extreme Environments

Rig. This unique and world class ground-based test rig can accurately most simulate atmospheric conditions for any planet or moon in the solar system and beyond.

Photo Credit: NASA/Bridget Caswell

Honeycomb Close Up

A close-up view of 3-D printed honeycomb

patterns made in NASA Glenn manufacturing lab using a method called binder

jetting. The honeycomb structures can find use in several applications such as

a strong core for lightweight sandwich panels, acoustic panels for noise attenuation

and innovative cellular structures.

Photo Credit: NASA/Marvin Smith

To see even more photos of our space exploration efforts, visit us on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/.

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