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Webb Telescope Set for Testing in Space Simulation Chamber

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope sits in front of the door to Chamber A, a giant thermal vacuum chamber located at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. The telescope will soon be moved into the chamber, where it will spend a hot Houston summer undergoing tests

Jupiter’s Clouds of Many Colors

NASA’s Juno spacecraft was racing away from Jupiter following its seventh close pass of the planet when JunoCam snapped this image on May 19, 2017, from about 29,100 miles (46,900 kilometers) above the cloud tops.

Illustration of Cool Dust Around an Active Black Hole

This artist illustration shows the thick ring of dust that can obscure the energetic processes that occur near the supermassive black hole of an active galactic nuclei. Researchers have found that the dust surrounding active, ravenous black holes is much mor

Turquoise Swirls in the Black Sea

On May 29, 2017, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured the data for this image of an ongoing phytoplankton bloom in the Black Sea. The image is a mosaic, composed from multiple satellite passes over the

Watching a Volatile Stellar Relationship

In biology, “symbiosis” refers to two organisms that live close to and interact with one another. Astronomers have long studied a class of stars – called symbiotic stars – that co-exist in a similar way. Astronomers are gaining a better understanding

SpaceX CRS-11 Cargo Mission Launch

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with the Dragon spacecraft onboard, launches from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, Saturday, June 3, 2017.

Eleventh SpaceX Commercial Resupply Mission to Space Station Set for Launch

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with the Dragon spacecraft onboard, is seen shortly after being raised vertical at Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, Thursday, June 1, 2017. Liftoff is scheduled for 5:55 p.m EDT.

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 cl

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

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 mai

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 Hubbl

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 i

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 Internationa

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 th

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 ha

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.

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

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).

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.

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

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 m

Dr. Nancy Grace Roman, Astronomer

Dr. Nancy Grace Roman is shown with a model of the Orbiting Solar Observatory (OSO) in 1962. She was the first Chief of Astronomy in the Office of Space Science at NASA Headquarters and the first woman to hold an executive position at NASA. She had oversight

The Splitting of the Dunes

The mound in the center of this Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image appears to have blocked the path of the dunes as they marched south (north is to the left in this image) across the scene. Smaller dunes run perpendicular to some of the larger-scale dunes, pro

Expedition 50 Spacewalks Prepare Station for Arrival of Commercial Crew Spacecraft

Flight Engineer Thomas Pesquet of ESA is seen floating outside the International Space Station during a spacewalk. Pesquet and Expedition 50 Commander Shane Kimbrough of NASA conducted the six-hour-and-34-minute spacewalk on March 24, 2017. A second spacewalk

Dark Spot and Jovian ‘Galaxy’

This enhanced-color image of a mysterious dark spot on Jupiter seems to reveal a Jovian “galaxy” of swirling storms.

Hubble Spots Two Interacting Galaxies Defying Cosmic Convention

Hubble spots two interacting galaxies some 60 million light-years away in the constellation of Leo.

Dr. Ellen Ochoa on the Flight Deck of Shuttle Atlantis

On April 15, 2002, STS-110 Mission Specialist Ellen Ochoa works at the Remote Manipulator System controls on the aft flight deck of space shuttle Atlantis. Dr. Ochoa, a veteran astronaut, is currently the 11th director of Johnson Space Center. She became the

Dublin at Night

Expedition 50 Commander Shane Kimbrough of NASA shared this nighttime image of Dublin on March 17, 2017, writing, "Happy #StPatricksDay Spectacular #Dublin, Ireland captured by @thom_astro from @Space_Station. Enjoy the #StPatricksFest Parade down there!"

Annie Easley, Computer Scientist and Mathematician

Annie Easley at NASA Glenn Research Center. In 1955, Easley began her career at NASA, then the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), as a human computer performing complex mathematical calculations.

Traffic-free and Sky-high

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite captured this natural-color image of cloud streets over the Barents Sea and Mezhdusharsky Island on March 7, 2017. Such formations occur frequently in the region in late winter.

A Mass of Viscous Flow Features

Viscous, lobate flow features are commonly found at the bases of slopes in the mid-latitudes of Mars, and are often associated with gullies.

Glaciers Ebb on South Georgia Island

Frequent cloud cover in the southern Atlantic Ocean often obscures satellite images of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. But occasionally the clouds give way. On September 14, 2016, the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 captured natural-c

Images of the Sun From the GOES-16 Satellite

These images of the sun were captured at the same time on January 29, 2017 by the six channels on the Solar Ultraviolet Imager or SUVI instrument aboard NOAA’s GOES-16 satellite. Data from SUVI will provide an estimation of coronal plasma temperatures and e

Orion Spacecraft Progress Continues With Installation of Module to Test Propulsion Systems

On Feb. 22, engineers successfully installed ESA’s European Service Module Propulsion Qualification Module (PQM) at NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico that was delivered by Airbus – ESA’s prime contractor for the Service Module. The modul

Charles T. Smoot

Charles Smoot was employed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center where he began laying the foundation of a cooperative program targeting qualified African American students from universities across the nation.

Sounding Rocket Launches to Study Auroras

A NASA Black Brant IX sounding rocket soars skyward into an aurora over Alaska following a 5:13 a.m. EST, Feb. 22, 2017 launch from the Poker Flat Research Range in Alaska. The rocket carried an Ionospheric Structuring: In Situ and Groundbased Low Altitude St

Rays of Creusa

When viewed from a distance with the sun directly behind Cassini, the larger, brighter craters really stand out on moons like Dione.

Thomas Byrdsong, Aerospace Engineer at NASA Langley Research Center

On March 2, 1963 Engineer Thomas Byrdsong checks the Apollo/Saturn 1B Ground-wind-loads model in the Transonic Dynamics Tunnel at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.

F for Fabulous

When seen up close, the F ring of Saturn resolves into multiple dusty strands. This Cassini view shows three bright strands and a very faint fourth strand off to the right.
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