SLS Engine Section Test Article Loaded on Barge Pegasus

A engine section structural qualification test article for NASA's new rocket, the Space Launch System, is loaded onto the barge Pegasus at the agency's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The test article now will make its way from Michoud to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for structural loads testing. via NASA http://ift.tt/2qc60YS

Cassini Captures Closest Images of Saturn's Atmosphere

Cassini Captures Closest Images of Saturn's Atmosphere via NASA http://ift.tt/2ozjMHC

Cygnus Spacecraft Approaches Space Station in the Sunset

On Saturday April 22, 2017, Expedition 51 Flight Engineer Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency photographed Orbital ATK's Cygnus spacecraft as it approached the International Space Station. Using the station's robotic Canadarm2, Cygnus was successfully captured by Pesquet and Commander Peggy Whitson at 6:05 a.m. EDT Saturday morning. via NASA http://ift.tt/2qf1WWY

James Webb Space Telescope Mirror Seen in Full Bloom

It's springtime and the deployed primary mirror of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope looks like a spring flower in full bloom. Once launched into space, the Webb telescope’s 18-segmented gold mirror is specially designed to capture infrared light from the first galaxies that formed in the early universe. via NASA http://ift.tt/2oDRs37

NASA Astronaut Peggy Whitson Sets Spaceflight Record

534 days, 2 hours, 49 minutes and counting. NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson flew through the standing record for cumulative time spent in space by a U.S. astronaut at 1:27 a.m. EDT on April 24, 2017, and with the recent extension of her stay at the International Space Station, she has five months to rack up a new one. via NASA http://ift.tt/2pcSZQM

NASA's Fleet of Satellites Keep an Eye on Earth

NASA's fleet of 18 Earth science missions in space, supported by aircraft, ships and ground observations, measure aspects of the environment that touch the lives of every person around the world. This visualization shows the NASA fleet in 2017. via NASA http://ift.tt/2plZ9yK

Expedition 51 Launch to the International Space Station

The Soyuz MS-04 rocket launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Thursday, April 20, 2017 at 1:13 p.m. Baikonur time carrying NASA astronaut Jack Fischer and cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin of the Russian space agency Roscosmos into orbit to begin their four and a half month mission on the International Space Station. via NASA http://ift.tt/2oq0hxi

The Arrhythmic Beating of a Black Hole Heart

At the center of the Centaurus galaxy cluster, there is a large elliptical galaxy called NGC 4696. Deeper still, there is a supermassive black hole buried within the core of this galaxy. New data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes has revealed details about this giant black hole. via NASA http://ift.tt/2oOFlkG

Liftoff of Orbital ATK Cargo Mission to International Space Station

The Orbital ATK Cygnus pressurized cargo module is carried atop the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Orbital ATK's seventh commercial resupply services mission will deliver 7,600 pounds of supplies, equipment and scientific research materials to the International Space Station. via NASA http://ift.tt/2oq0waK

Watercolor World

When imaged at infrared wavelengths that pierce the planet’s upper haze layer, the high-speed winds of Saturn's atmosphere produce watercolor-like patterns. via NASA http://ift.tt/2pa9Owi

Hubble Sees Starbursts in Virgo

Starburst galaxies contain regions where stars are forming at such a breakneck rate that the galaxy is eating up its gas supply faster than it can be replenished. via NASA http://ift.tt/2oc4cxm

Illustration of Cassini Spacecraft Diving Through Plume of 'Ocean World' Enceladus

This illustration shows NASA's Cassini spacecraft diving through the plume of Saturn's moon Enceladus, in 2015. Two veteran NASA missions are providing new details about icy, ocean-bearing moons of Jupiter and Saturn, further heightening the scientific interest of these and other "ocean worlds" in our solar system and beyond. via NASA http://ift.tt/2pyf5di

New Full-hemisphere Views of Earth at Night

NASA scientists are releasing new global maps of Earth at night, providing the clearest yet composite view of the patterns of human settlement across our planet. This composite image, one of three new full-hemisphere views, provides a view of the Americas at night. via NASA http://ift.tt/2o6PerJ

New Technique For Designing and Manufacturing Heat Shields Under Study

Through NASA's Space Technology Research Fellowship (NSTRF) program, a fresh approach to designing and manufacturing heat-thwarting thermal protection systems - or heatshields - for spacecraft is being developed and tested, offering the promise of fabricating larger tile sizes while reducing labor, cost and waste. via NASA http://ift.tt/2p2cknX

Expedition 50 Soyuz MS-02 Landing

The Soyuz MS-02 spacecraft is seen as it lands with Expedition 50 Commander Shane Kimbrough of NASA and Flight Engineers Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko of Roscosmos near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on Monday, April 10, 2017 (Kazakh time). via NASA http://ift.tt/2oqwnvB

When Jovian Light and Dark Collide

This image, taken by the JunoCam imager on NASA’s Juno spacecraft, highlights a feature on Jupiter where multiple atmospheric conditions appear to collide. via NASA http://ift.tt/2o5rTs1

Interment of John Glenn at Arlington National Cemetery

A horse drawn caisson carries former astronaut and U.S. Senator John Glenn to his final resting place during the interment ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on Thursday, April 6, 2017, in Virginia. Glenn was the first American to orbit Earth on Feb. 20, 1962, in a five-hour flight aboard the Friendship 7 spacecraft. via NASA http://ift.tt/2oOtUsT

Illustration of Cassini Spacecraft's Grand Finale Dive

This illustration shows NASA's Cassini spacecraft about to make one of its dives between Saturn and its innermost rings as part of the mission's grand finale. Cassini will make 22 orbits that swoop between the rings and the planet before ending its mission on Sept. 15, 2017, with a final plunge into Saturn. via NASA http://ift.tt/2oCWUXh

Space Station View of Auroras

Expedition 50 Flight Engineer Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency (ESA) photographed brightly glowing auroras from his vantage point aboard the International Space Station on March 27, 2017. Pesquet wrote, "The view at night recently has been simply magnificent: few clouds, intense auroras. I can’t look away from the windows." via NASA http://ift.tt/2nYJfZv

Sliver of Saturn

Although only a sliver of Saturn's sunlit face is visible in this view, the mighty gas giant planet still dominates the view. via NASA http://ift.tt/2oug9lG