Orbiting above eastern North America, a crew member on the International Space Station photographed a dense pattern of eddies in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Caught briefly in the Sun’s “glint point,” reflections off the water surface show an interlinked mass of swirls and eddies in the shallow water north of Prince Edward Island. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
In this photograph taken on Sept. 1, 2016, the James Webb Space Telescope Pathfinder structure has been configured for the Thermal Pathfinder Test at NASA Johnson Space Center's giant thermal vacuum chamber, called Chamber A. The Pathfinder is a test version of the structure that supports the telescope. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) is seen attached to the Tranquility module of the International Space Station. BEAM is an is an experimental expandable habitat. Expandable habitats, occasionally described as inflatable habitats, greatly decrease the amount of transport volume for future space missions. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
On September 29, 2016, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this false-color image (MODIS bands 7-2-1) showing volcanic activity in the South Sandwich Islands. Located in the South Atlantic Ocean, the uninhabited South Sandwich Islands include several active stratovolcanoes. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
On October 4, 2016, Hurricane Matthew made landfall on southwestern Haiti as a category-4 storm—the strongest storm to hit the Caribbean nation in more than 50 years. Just hours after landfall, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this natural-color image. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
The International Space Station has tracked Hurricane Matthew all week, providing images and video from low Earth orbit as the storm hit the Caribbean Sea and made its way towards Florida. In this photograph taken by Expedition 49 Flight Engineer Kate Rubins on Oct. 4, 2016, at 21:05 GMT, the hurricane's clouds extend across the frame. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
Astronauts on the International Space Station captured a series of incredible star trail images on Oct. 3, 2016, as they orbited at 17,500 miles per hour. The station orbits the Earth every 90 minutes, and astronauts aboard see an average of 16 sunrises and sunsets every 24 hours. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
NASA astronaut Kate Rubins inspected the Bigelow Aerospace Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) attached to the International Space Station. Expandable habitats are designed to take up less room on a spacecraft while providing greater volume for living and working in space once expanded. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
The Orbital ATK Antares rocket, with the Cygnus spacecraft onboard, is raised into the vertical position on launch Pad-0A, Friday, Oct. 14, 2016, at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. Scheduled to launch Oct. 16, Orbital ATK’s cargo resupply mission will deliver over 5,100 pounds of science and research, supplies and hardware to the space station. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
Orbital ATK Cargo Mission Set For Launch to Space Station
The Orbital ATK Antares rocket, with the Cygnus spacecraft onboard, is seen on launch Pad-0A as the moon sets, predawn, Saturday, Oct. 15, 2016 at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Orbital ATK’s cargo resupply mission will deliver over 5,100 pounds of science and research, supplies and hardware to the space station. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
Liftoff of Antares Rocket From NASA Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia
The Orbital ATK Antares rocket, with the Cygnus spacecraft onboard, launches from Pad-0A, Monday, October 17, 2016 at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Cygnus is delivering over 5,100 pounds of science and research, supplies and hardware to the space station. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
Expedition 49 Launch to the International Space Station
The Soyuz MS-02 rocket is launched with Expedition 49 Soyuz commander Sergey Ryzhikov of Roscosmos, flight engineer Shane Kimbrough of NASA, and flight engineer Andrey Borisenko of Roscosmos, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The crew will spend the next four months living and working aboard the International Space Station. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
This image of the sunlit part of Jupiter and its swirling atmosphere was created by a citizen scientist (Alex Mai) using data from Juno's JunoCam instrument. JunoCam's raw images are available at www.missionjuno.swri.edu/junocam for the public to peruse and process into image products. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
Huge waves are sculpted in this two-lobed nebula called the Red Spider Nebula, located some 3,000 light-years away in the constellation of Sagittarius. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
An engineer guides the upper dome of a Boeing CST-100 Starliner as it is connected to the lower dome to complete the first hull of the Starliner's Structural Test Article. The Starliner is one of two spacecraft in development in partnership with NASA's Commercial Crew Program that will enable astronauts to fly to the International Space Station. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
Cygnus Spacecraft Attached to Space Station's Unity Module
Orbital ATK's Cygnus cargo craft (left) is seen from the Cupola module windows aboard the International Space Station on Oct. 23, 2016. The main robotic work station for controlling the Canadarm2 robotic arm is located inside the Cupola and was used to capture Cygnus upon its arrival. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)