Space Station's View of Florida at Night

Expedition 51 Flight Engineer Thomas Pesquet captured this nighttime photo of Florida from the International Space Station. Bright lights include the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area, and Orlando, with Cape Canaveral to the east, where launch preparations for SpaceX's next cargo mission are underway at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. via NASA http://ift.tt/2rkVCyQ

Space Station's EarthKAM Sees the Grand Canyon

On April 3, 2017, the student-controlled EarthKAM camera aboard the International Space Station captured this photograph of a favorite target -- the Grand Canyon -- from low Earth orbit. The camera has been aboard the orbiting outpost since the first space station expedition began in November 2000 and supports approximately four missions annually. via NASA http://ift.tt/2r7Hp9U

Close-up View of Neutron Star Mission's X-Ray Concentrator Optics

A new NASA mission, the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER), is headed for the International Space Station to observe one of the strangest observable objects in the universe. In this photo, NICER’s X-ray concentrator optics are inspected for dust and foreign object debris that could impair functionality once in space. via NASA http://ift.tt/2qjUVZp

Sequence of Juno Spacecraft's Close Approach to Jupiter

This sequence of enhanced-color images shows how quickly the viewing geometry changes for NASA’s Juno spacecraft as it swoops by Jupiter. The images were obtained by JunoCam. via NASA http://ift.tt/2rVdhNy

May 24, 1962 - Scott Carpenter on the Way to Mercury-Atlas 7 Launch Site

Astronaut Scott Carpenter walks to the launch site to begin the Mercury-Atlas 7 (MA-7) mission on May 24, 1962. Carpenter's Aurora 7 capsule lifted off aboard an Atlas rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 7:45 a.m. EST, May 24. Carpenter was the fourth American in space and second American to orbit Earth. via NASA http://ift.tt/2qQ7tq9

NASA’s Mars 2020 Rover Artist’s Concept

This illustration depicts NASA's Mars 2020 rover on the surface of Mars. The mission, targeted for launch in July/August 2020, takes the next step by not only seeking signs of habitable conditions on Mars in the ancient past, but also searching for signs of past microbial life itself. via NASA http://ift.tt/2q7Qktb

Slim Crescent of Ice

The low angle of sunlight along the slim crescent of Saturn's moon Enceladus. via NASA http://ift.tt/2rL511T

CubeSats Deployed Outside Station's Kibo Lab Module

A pair of CubeSats, with the Earth's limb in the background, moments after being ejected from a small satellite deployer outside of the International Space Station's Kibo laboratory module on Wednesday, May 16, 2017. Over a dozen CubeSats were ejected into Earth orbit this week to study Earth and space phenomena for the next one to two years. via NASA http://ift.tt/2qBi60p

May 18, 1969 - Apollo 10 View of the Earth

A view of Earth from 36,000 nautical miles away as photographed from the Apollo 10 spacecraft during its trans-lunar journey toward the moon. While the Yucatan Peninsula is obscured by clouds, nearly all of Mexico north of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec can be clearly delineated. via NASA http://ift.tt/2rv852x

NASA's IceBridge Wraps Up 2017 Arctic Campaign With Southern Greenland Flight

A fjord in southern Greenland, as seen during Operation IceBridge's last flight of the 2017 Arctic campaign, on May 12, 2017. This final full science flight, ICESat-2 South, was designed along the ground tracks of NASA’s upcoming ICESat-2, to fill in a gap in altimetry coverage of central southern Greenland. via NASA http://ift.tt/2qRUipN

James Webb Space Telescope Primary Mirror Prepared for Testing at Johnson Space Center

The towering primary mirror of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope stands inside a cleanroom at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, where it will undergo its last cryogenic test before it is launched into space in 2018. In preparation for testing, the “wings” of the mirror (which consist of the three segments on each side) were spread open. via NASA http://ift.tt/2qNH25o

Short Shadow

The projection of Saturn's shadow on the rings grows shorter as Saturn’s season advances toward northern summer. via NASA http://ift.tt/2r8XD3z

Rocket Blasts Off During 2017 Student Launch Challenge

Nearly 50 student teams from middle and high schools, colleges and universities in 22 states demonstrated advanced rocketry and engineering skills in NASA's 2017 Student Launch challenge. Teams spent eight months building and testing rockets designed to fly to an altitude of one mile, deploy an automated parachute system, and safely land for reuse. via NASA http://ift.tt/2pGdcek

NASA Astronaut Jack Fischer Prepares for Friday Spacewalk

Expedition 51 Flight Engineer Jack Fischer of NASA is seen inside the International Space Station in his spacesuit during a fit check, in preparation for a spacewalk on Friday, May 12, 2017. This will be the 200th spacewalk at the station for assembly and maintenance, the ninth spacewalk for NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson and the first for Fischer. via NASA http://ift.tt/2qwu8ZK

New View of the Crab Nebula

This composite image of the Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant, was assembled by combining data from five telescopes spanning nearly the entire breadth of the electromagnetic spectrum: the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array, the Spitzer Space Telescope, the Hubble Space Telescope, the XMM-Newton Observatory, and the Chandra X-ray Observatory. via NASA http://ift.tt/2q3p0uT

NASA's P-3 Aircraft Flies Over Southeast Greenland

The shadow of NASA's P-3 aircraft is seen over an iceberg on a May 8, 2017 flight supporting NASA's Operation IceBridge mission. IceBridge began its final week of Arctic Spring 2017 surveys with a glacier-packed mission in Greenland, called Southeast Glaciers 01. via NASA http://ift.tt/2pgWHtL

Hail the Hexagon

Saturn's hexagonal polar jet stream is the shining feature of almost every view of the north polar region of Saturn. via NASA http://ift.tt/2prpfwB

Panorama with Active Linear Dune in Gale Crater, Mars

This 360-degree mosaic from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover looks out over a portion of the Bagnold Dunes, which stretch for several miles. via NASA http://ift.tt/2p4yfvJ

Illustration of an Earth-Sized 'Tatooine' Planet

This illustration shows a hypothetical planet covered in water around the binary star system of Kepler-35A and B. With two suns in its sky, Luke Skywalker's home planet Tatooine in "Star Wars" looks like a parched, sandy desert world. In real life, we know that two-star systems can indeed support planets. via NASA http://ift.tt/2p9yXmD

North Pole of Enceladus

In the north, Enceladus' surface appears to be about as old as any in the solar system. The south, however, is an entirely different story. via NASA http://ift.tt/2p5HPcO

NASA Marks Progress on Hardware for Orion's Second Flight with Space Launch System Rocket

Machining for NASA's Orion spacecraft, scheduled to fly on the second integrated flight with agency's Space Launch System rocket, is well underway at Ingersoll Machine Tools in Rockford, Illinois. The new deep space spacecraft will take humans farther into the solar system than we have ever traveled before. via NASA http://ift.tt/2qANEQE

Clouds ‘Roll’ Over Pacific Atolls

Areas near the equator are frequently cloudy, obscuring the view of Earth’s surface from space. April 7, 2017, was no different. On that day, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this natural-color image of clouds over the Gilbert Islands. via NASA http://ift.tt/2oYkeLf