NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft sits in its run stall at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California, firing up its engine for the first time. These engine-run tests start at low power and allow the X-59 team to verify the aircraft’s systems are working together while powered by its own engine. The X-59 is the centerpiece of NASA’s Quesst mission, which seeks to solve one of the major barriers to supersonic flight over land by making sonic booms quieter.
Read More“[Now that I work for Safety and Mission Assurance,] it’s really cool to read everything about the different types of the scenarios. I always get to see the task orders and the type of work that is going on to keep people safe on the ground and in the air.” — Miranda Meyer, Contract Specialist, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Read MoreThe Space Shuttle Atlantis returned to work after a refurbishing and a two-year layoff, as liftoff for the mission occurred on Nov. 3, 1994. Five NASA astronauts and an ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut were aboard for the Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science (ATLAS-3) mission.
Read MoreThe Great Nebula in Orion,
an immense, nearby
starbirth region,
is probably the most famous of all
astronomical nebulas
Perfect gift for space buffs! This tee shirt not only highlights the awe-inspiring technology of ALMA but also celebrates the beauty of the cosmos. It makes an ideal present for anyone fascinated by astronomy and the mysteries of the universe.
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Target: Earth Mission: Terra Instrument: ASTER Image Credit: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Space Systems, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team |
In this image of the Serpens Nebula from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers found a grouping of aligned protostellar outflows within one small region (the top left corner). Serpens is a reflection nebula, which means it’s a cloud of gas and dust that does not create its own light, but instead shines by reflecting the light from stars close to or within the nebula.
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Target: Orion Nebula Mission: , , Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) Instrument: Herschel Telescope , , Image Credit: ESA/NASA/JPL-Caltech |
Teams at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida practice the Artemis mission emergency escape, or egress, procedures on Friday, Aug. 9, 2024. Simulated flight crew members practice getting out of the emergency egress basket and into the emergency transport vehicle to drive them to safety in the event of an unlikely emergency during launch countdown.
Read MoreA witch appears to be screaming out into space in this image from NASA’s Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE. The infrared portrait shows the Witch Head nebula, named after its resemblance to the profile of a wicked witch.
Read MoreBig,
beautiful spiral galaxy NGC 6744
is nearly 175,000 light-years across, larger than
our own Milky Way
NASA test pilot Joe Walker took the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) for its first spin 60 years ago today. NASA used the LLRV, also known as the flying bedstead, to train Apollo astronauts for the descent to the Moon’s surface.
Read MoreBy starlight, this eerie visage shines in the dark
with a crooked profile evoking its popular name, the
Witch Head Nebula
New Zealand’s stunning scenery has famously provided the backdrop for fictional worlds in fantasy films. A unique cloud that forms over the Otago region of the country’s South Island also evokes the otherworldly, while very much existing in reality.
Read MoreWhat created this huge space bubble?
Blown by the wind from a star, this
tantalizing, head-like
apparition is cataloged as NGC 7635, but known simply
as the Bubble Nebula
Space science is fun! NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Flight Engineer Don Pettit fills this sphere of water with food coloring creating a Jupiter-like effect in the microgravity environment of the International Space Station.
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Target: Earth Mission: Terra Instrument: ASTER Image Credit: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Space Systems, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team |
Target: Earth Mission: Terra Instrument: ASTER Image Credit: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Space Systems, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team |
An astronaut aboard the International Space Station snapped this photo while in orbit over southeast Brazil. The image focuses on the Três Marias Reservoir, a human-made waterbody fed by the São Francisco River. The types of land cover vary across the image, with bold colors dominating the scene.
Read MoreWhat is the most spook-tacular nebula in the galaxy?
One contender is LDN 43, which bears an astonishing resemblance to a vast cosmic
bat
flying amongst the stars on a dark
Halloween night
A drone camera captures NASA’s mobile launcher 1 atop the agency’s crawler-transporter 2 moving from Launch Complex 39B to the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. The mobile launcher has been at the launch pad since August 2023 undergoing upgrades and tests in preparation for NASA’s Artemis II mission.
Read MoreThe spiral galaxy in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is IC 3225. It looks remarkably as if it was launched from a cannon, speeding through space like a comet with a tail of gas streaming from its disk behind it.
Read MoreSome 13,000 light-years away toward the southern constellation Pavo,
the globular star cluster NGC 6752 roams the halo of our Milky Way
galaxy
A super blue moon rises above NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, Aug. 18, 2024. Although not actually appearing blue, as the third full moon in a season with four full moons, this is called a “blue” moon.
Read MoreA mere seven hundred light years from Earth toward the constellation
Aquarius,
a star is dying
The city lights of Melbourne, Australia are pictured from the International Space Station as it orbited 271 miles above.
Read MoreNearly four decades ago, astronomers spotted one of the brightest exploding stars in more than 400 years. The titanic supernova, called Supernova 1987A (SN 1987A), blazed with the power of 100 million suns for several months following its discovery on Feb. 23, 1987.
Read MoreSlow and steady wins the race for this gopher tortoise, ambling along the Launch Pad 39B beach road on NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Gopher tortoises are dry-land turtles that live in scrub, dry hammock, pine flatwood, coastal grassland and dune habitats.
Read MoreA supermoon rises over Huntsville, Alabama, home to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, Aug. 19. Visible through Wednesday, Aug. 21, the full Moon is both a supermoon and a Blue Moon. Supermoons are the biggest and brightest full Moons of the year because the Moon is within 90% of its closest point to Earth. While not blue in color, the third full Moon in a season with four full Moons is called a “Blue Moon.” Huntsville is known as the “Rocket City” because of its proximity to NASA Marshall, which manages vital propulsion systems and hardware, launch vehicles, engineering technologies, and cutting-edge science for the agency.
Read MoreThese six panels follow daily apparitions of comet
C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS
as it moved away from our
fair planet during the past week
The Oort Cloud comet, called C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, passes over Southeast Louisiana near New Orleans, home of NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. The comet is making its first appearance in documented human history; it was last seen in the night sky 80,000 years ago. The Tsuchinshan-ATLAS comet made its first close pass by Earth in mid-October and will remain visible to viewers in the Northern Hemisphere just between the star Arcturus and planet Venus through early November.
Read MoreAn unidentified illustration of NASA’s space shuttle. The space shuttle fleet flew 135 missions and helped construct the International Space Station between the first launch on April 12, 1981 and the final landing on July 21, 2011. There were five orbiters: Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour.
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