Scenes from an orbital restaurant 🍕 Here’s a slice of life from the International Space Station (@ISS). While crew members orbit about 250 miles (402 km) above us, they’re never too far from some of our favorite traditions here on Earth – like pizza night. 📸 Crew members can choose from about 200 different items for their standard menu – all of which has been tested, prepared, and packaged by the Space Food Systems Laboratory at @NASAJohnson. @Astro_FarmerBob poses with his personal-sized pie. 📸 Pass the pepperoni! The crew enjoys a family-style spread of pizza toppings. Clockwise from left are, Denis Matveev, Oleg Artemyev, and Sergey Korsakov, all from @Roscosmosofficial; @NASAAstronauts Kjell Lindgren and Jessica Watkins; and @EuropeanSpaceAgency's Samantha Cristoforetti. 📸 Add chef to her resume: @Astro_Watkins takes on the challenge of assembling her pizza in microgravity Credit: NASA #NASA#InternationalSpaceStation#ISS#Astronauts#DayInTheLife#PizzaNight#PizzaPlanet
In burning red.
In the southern constellation Pictor, this peculiar galaxy lies roughly 17 million light-years from Earth. The galaxy is a cosmic oddity; it's irregularly shaped, small, and has recently undergone a surge of star formation – also known as a starburst.
Dwarf irregular galaxies resemble some of the earliest galaxies that dotted the universe – they contain few elements other than hydrogen or helium. The image, captured by @NASAHubble's Wide Field Camera 3, allows scientists to observe the interaction between stars, star clusters, and ionized gas in star-forming galaxies.
Credit: @EuropeanSpaceAgency/Hubble & NASA, R. Chandar
#Space#NASA#Astronomy#Hubble#Galaxy#AstroPhotography
Going to other worlds? Start here. ☝️ The Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) has always been iconic. Located in @NASAKennedy, it was originally constructed in 1966 for the assembly of the Apollo/Saturn V Moon rocket. It's the only facility that assembled a rocket that carried humans beyond low-Earth orbit and on to the Moon. The world’s most powerful rocket, @NASAArtemis’s Space Launch System, requires the world’s largest doors to match. At 456 feet high, the doors take about 45 minutes to completely open and close. There are five overhead cranes inside the VAB, including two that can hold 325 tons. These are critical to picking up the heaviest elements of rockets, while precise enough to lower an object onto an egg without cracking it. Fusing what has worked in the past with modern needs is the key goal of the world’s most famous landmark of space exploration as it evolves for future missions to worlds beyond. Credit: NASA / Bill White (Image 1) / Frank Michaux (Image 2) / Ben Smegelsky (Image 3) #NASA#CapeCanaveral#NASAKennedy#Rockets#Spacecraft#Space#Aerospace#Engineering#Building#FunFacts
Dust: it's coarse and rough and irritating — and it gets everywhere.
Blown by wind across continents and oceans, dust does more than make skies hazy, congest lungs, and leave a film on windshields—it can influence weather, hasten snowmelt, and fertilize plants on land and in the ocean. Particles from North Africa can travel thousands of miles around the globe, sparking phytoplankton blooms, seeding Amazonian rainforests with nutrients, and blanketing some American cities in a veil of grit while also absorbing and scattering sunlight.
Our Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) mission set to launch next month aims to help us better understand how these drifting intercontinental dusts affect our planet. Currently, we are unsure whether mineral dust heats or cools our planet: for instance, specks of dust in lighter colors may reflect sunlight back into space, cooling our planet, while darker particles may absorb solar energy and heat Earth. As climate change causes more lands to become dry and arid dust-forming regions, we need to better understand how they impact our future climate.
Once in orbit, EMIT will be attached to the exterior of the @iss pointing towards Earth. There, it will use its imaging spectrometer to measure light across hundreds of wavelengths, including those that are invisible to human eyes. These spectrometer readings will help us understand the mineral composition of large dust plumes and better prepare us for our changing climate.
Credit: NASA
#NASA#Space#Earth#Africa#ISS#Climate#Science#Desert#Atlantic#Weather#Dust#Wind#CRS25#EMIT#Tatooine#Anakin#Skywalker
A glimpse into tomorrow ✨ The Sun peeks above Earth’s horizon as the International Space Station (@ISS) orbits above east China in this image captured by a crew member. The space station affords a unique planetary perspective with an orbital path passing over 90 percent of the Earth’s population. Its approximately 52 degrees of orbital inclination allows astronauts and Earth-observing payloads to see the sun rise and set 16 times each day across the world. Astronauts have taken more than 4 million images of Earth from space (over 3.5 million from the space station), contributing to one of the longest running records of how Earth has changed over time. Credit: NASA #NASA#Horizon#SpaceStation#Space#Sunrise#Sunset
Dust in the wind. 💨
Swipe to see what 1,211 Martian days, or sols, of exposure to the elements of Mars, looks like.
Our InSight Mars lander took its final selfie on April 24, 2022. Covered in a layer of dust, the second image displays the lander after operating in a limited capacity unable to generate the power levels of yesteryear.
The InSight Mars lander arrived on Mars on Nov. 26, 2018, powered by solar panels and equipped with instruments designed to measure Mars’ interior. The lander recorded invaluable weather data and studies of the remnants of Mars’ ancient magnetic field, as well as analysis of quakes that allowed scientists to measure the depth and composition of Mars’ crust, mantle, and core.
Since achieving its mission goals in its first Martian year (two Earth years) InSight has operated in an extended mission phase. However, as dust continues to accumulate on its panels less and less power is available. To continue its operation, power must be prioritized for the lander's seismometer, the instrument which measures marsquakes. At the current rate, InSight is expected to continue limited operation until about December when it will send its final signal home.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
#NASA#Mars#RedPlanet#InSight#MarsLander#SolarSystem#Earthquake#Marsquake#Seismology#Space#Science#Future#Selfie
🙌 Touchdown, #Starliner! Boeing’s uncrewed spacecraft touched down May 25 at 6:49 p.m. EDT (22:49 UTC) at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. The capsule’s return to Earth wrapped up a six-day trip to the International Space Station (@ISS) as part of Orbital Flight Test-2, a flight test to help certify Boeing’s crew transportation system for regular flights with astronauts to and from the space station. Starliner launched to the space station on Thursday, May 19 aboard a @ULALaunch Atlas V rocket, and docked to the orbiting laboratory on Friday, May 20. The spacecraft returned home with more than 600 pounds (272 kilograms) of cargo, including Nitrogen Oxygen Recharge System reusable tanks that provide breathable air to station crew members. The tanks will be refurbished on Earth and sent back to the station on a future flight. Although the mission was uncrewed, there was one passenger strapped into the commander’s seat: Rosie the Rocketeer. An anthropomorphic test device weighing 180 pounds, or 82 kilograms, Rosie helped maintain Starliner’s center of gravity. After NASA and Boeing review data from this test flight, teams will continue plans for Starliner and its next mission—the Crew Flight Test to the space station. Credits images 1-3: NASA/Bill Ingalls Credit images 4-5: ESA/NASA #Boeing#WhiteSands#Spaceflight#Spacecraft#Space#NASA
Photo by @danwintersphoto | Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida. As the morning fog lifted on March 18, the Orion spacecraft was seen atop the Space Launch System rocket at Launch Pad 39B for the first time. Capable of producing 8.8 million pounds of thrust, the rocket is the most powerful ever constructed. A pivotal moment for NASA, this “wet” dress rehearsal allowed for vital end-to-end testing for all teams. Each step is practiced for countdown, with the exception of the final step—liftoff. The launch is currently scheduled for the May-June window. The uncrewed Artemis I mission will test the rocket and spacecraft's capabilities for carrying astronauts to the moon on a future journey. Follow me @danwintersphoto for continuing coverage. @nasa@nasaartemis@nasakennedy@nasa_marshall#nasa