Around local midnight time on April 8, 2015, astronauts aboard the International Space Station took this photograph of Paris, often referred to as the “City of Light.” The pattern of the street grid dominates at night, providing a completely different set of visual features from those visible during the day. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
Researching 3D Printing Technology on the Space Station
Crew members on the International Space Station re-installed the first 3D printer in orbit, during the week of June 27, 2016, to continue research on the developing technology and how it can be used in space. NASA astronaut Jeff Williams installed the printer in the Microgravity Science Glovebox to begin another round of sample builds. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
Looking Up at New Work Platforms in the Vehicle Assembly Building
In this view looking up from the floor of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, four levels of new work platforms are now installed on the north and south sides of High Bay 3. The G-level work platforms are the fourth of 10 levels that will surround and provide access to the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
Expedition 48 Commander Jeff Williams of NASA captured photographs of western Cuba and the Gulf of Batabanó as the International Space Station flew overhead. Williams shared this composite image on social media, writing, "Wow! Look at how the navy blue contrasts with the aqua, Gulf of Batabano Cuba." (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
This image, taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), shows a starburst galaxy named MCG+07-33-027. This galaxy lies some 300 million light-years away from us, and is currently experiencing an extraordinarily high rate of star formation — a starburst. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
Sea ice across the Arctic Ocean is shrinking to below-average levels this summer. NASA’s Operation IceBridge, an airborne survey of polar ice, just completed its first flights studying the aquamarine pools of melt water on the ice surface that may be accelerating the overall sea ice retreat. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
On July 20, 1976, at 8:12 a.m. EDT, NASA received the signal that the Viking Lander 1 successfully reached the Martian surface. This major milestone represented the first time the United States successfully landed a vehicle on the surface of Mars, collecting an overwhelming amount of data that would soon be used in future NASA missions. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
This view of a massive cluster of galaxies unveils a very cluttered-looking universe filled with galaxies near and far. Some are distorted like a funhouse mirror through a "space warp" phenomenon first predicted by Einstein a century ago. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
Aquanauts Splash Down, Beginning NEEMO 21 Research Mission
The NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) 21 mission began on July 21, 2016, as an international crew of aquanauts splashed down to the undersea Aquarius Reef Base, 62 feet below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. The NEEMO 21 crew will perform research both inside and outside the habitat during a 16-day simulated space mission. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image reveals the vibrant core of the galaxy NGC 3125. Discovered by John Herschel in 1835, NGC 3125 is a great example of a starburst galaxy — a galaxy in which unusually high numbers of new stars are forming, springing to life within intensely hot clouds of gas. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
Cockpit of the First All-Electric Propulsion Aircraft
NASA’s Scalable Convergent Electric Propulsion Technology and Operations Research (SCEPTOR) project has reached a critical milestone, where the electric propulsion integration and conversion of the Tecnam P2006T aircraft into the X-57 will commence. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
An unusual celestial object called CX330 was first detected as a source of X-ray light in 2009. It has been launching “jets” of material into the gas and dust around it. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
The blue dots in this field of galaxies, known as the COSMOS field, show galaxies that contain supermassive black holes emitting high-energy X-rays. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
On July 21, 2016, Expedition 48 Commander Jeff Williams of NASA shared this photograph of sunglint illuminating the waters of the Chesapeake Bay, writing, "Morning passing over the Chesapeake Bay heading across the Atlantic." (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
Acadia National Park is one of the most visited parks in America, drawing more than 2.5 million visitors per year to the craggy, jagged coast of Maine. The park is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2016. On September 6, 2015, the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on the Landsat 8 satellite acquired these images of the park and its surroundings. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
Field Testing NASA's New Carbon-Dioxide Measuring Instrument
A team of NASA scientists and engineers is poised to realize a lifetime goal: building an instrument powerful and accurate enough to gather around-the-clock global atmospheric carbon-dioxide (CO2) measurements from space. Developers of the CO2 Sounder Lidar instrument snapped this photo during a field campaign over California and Nevada. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
Astronauts Test Orion Docking Hatch For Future Missions
Engineers and astronauts conducted testing in a representative model of the Orion spacecraft at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston to gather the crew's feedback on the design of the docking hatch and on post-landing equipment operations. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
Curiosity's Arm Over 'Marimba' Target on Mount Sharp
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover began close-up investigation of a target called "Marimba," on lower Mount Sharp, during the week preceding the fourth anniversary of the mission's dramatic sky-crane landing. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
Neil A. Armstrong is photographed in the cockpit of the Ames Bell X-14 aircraft at NASA's Ames Research Center. Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, was born in Wapakoneta, Ohio, on August 5, 1930. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)