Expedition 46 flight engineer Tim Peake of the European Space Agency (ESA) shared this stunning nighttime photograph with his social media followers on Jan. 25, 2016, writing, "Beautiful night pass over Italy, Alps and Mediterranean." (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
Engineers Mark Completion of Orion’s Pressure Vessel
NASA’s Orion spacecraft is another step closer to launching on its first mission to deep space atop the agency’s Space Launch System rocket. On Jan. 13, technicians at Michoud Assembly Facility finished welding together the primary structure of the Orion spacecraft destined for deep space, marking another important step on the journey to Mars. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
Chuck Resnik, brother of Space Shuttle Challenger astronaut Judith Resnik, left, and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, right, visit the Space Shuttle Challenger Memorial during a wreath laying ceremony that was part of NASA's Day of Remembrance on the 30th anniversary of the Challenger accident, January 28, 2016, at Arlington National Cemetery. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
This self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the vehicle at "Namib Dune," where the rover's activities included scuffing into the dune with a wheel and scooping samples of sand for laboratory analysis. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
Super Guppy Ready to Transport the Orion Spacecraft
NASA's Super Guppy aircraft readies to transport an Orion spacecraft from the Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana to Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
Successful Deployment of University Satellites From Space Station
Expedition 46 flight engineer Tim Peake of ESA captured this photo on Jan. 29, 2016 from the International Space Station, as the robotic arm in Japan's Kibo laboratory successfully deployed two combined satellites: AggieSat4 built by Texas A&M University students, and BEVO-2 built by University of Texas students. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
Feb. 3, 1995, Astronaut Eileen Collins at the Pilot's Station on Shuttle Discovery
In this Feb. 3, 1995, image taken onboard space shuttle Discovery on flight day one of the STS-63 mission, astronaut Eileen M. Collins -- the first woman to pilot the shuttle -- is at the pilot's station during a "hotfiring" procedure prior to rendezvous with the Russian Mir Space Station. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
The nitrogen ice glaciers on Pluto appear to carry an intriguing cargo: numerous, isolated hills that may be fragments of water ice from Pluto’s surrounding uplands. These hills individually measure one to several miles or kilometers across, according to images and data from NASA’s New Horizons mission. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
This image, taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows a peculiar galaxy known as NGC 1487, lying about 30 million light-years away in the southern constellation of Eridanus. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
On the evening of Feb. 7, 2016, Expedition 46 Commander Scott Kelly snapped this photo of Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. from the International Space Station, writing, "Got to see the #SuperBowl in person after all! But at 17,500MPH, it didn't last long. #YearInSpace" (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
Feb. 9, 1995, Bernard Harris and Michael Foale Ready For a Spacewalk
STS-63 astronauts Bernard A. Harris, Jr., payload commander (right), and C. Michael Foale, mission specialist (left), are ready to exit space shuttle Discovery's airlock for a spacewalk on Feb. 9, 1995. On this extravehicular activity (EVA), which lasted 4 hours and 38 minutes, Bernard Harris became the first African-American to walk in space. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite captured this image of cloud streets and sea ice in the Sea of Okhotsk on Feb. 8, 2016. Cloud streets are long parallel bands of cumulus clouds that form when cold air blows over warmer waters and a warmer air layer rests over the top of both. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson trains underwater for a spacewalk at the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) at Johnson Space Center in Houston. Whitson is scheduled to launch to the International Space Station in late 2016 as part of Expedition 50/51. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
In this cosmic snapshot, the spectacularly symmetrical wings of planetary nebula Hen 2-437 show up in a magnificent icy blue hue. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
Flowers Harvested on the Ground and in Space for Deep-Space Food Crop Research
Zinnia plants from the Veggie ground control experiment at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida were harvested Feb. 11 in the same way that crew member Scott Kelly will harvest the zinnias growing in the Veggie system aboard the International Space Station on Feb. 14—Valentine’s Day. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
Commercial Crew Partner Boeing Tests Starliner Spacecraft
Engineers from NASA’s Langley Research Center and Boeing dropped a full-scale test article of the company’s CST-100 Starliner into Langley’s 20-foot-deep Hydro Impact Basin. Although the spacecraft is designed to land on land, Boeing is testing the Starliner’s systems in water to ensure astronaut safety in the unlikely event of an emergency. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
Looking Back: Astronaut Mae Jemison Suits Up For Launch
On Sept. 12, 1992, launch day of the STS-47 Spacelab-J mission on space shuttle Endeavour, NASA astronaut Mae Jemison waits as her suit technician, Sharon McDougle, performs a unpressurized and pressurized leak check on her spacesuit at the O&C Building at Kennedy Space Center. Dr. Jemison was the first African-American woman to fly in space. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
This image, acquired on Nov. 24, 2015 by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows the western side of an elongated pit depression in the eastern Noctis Labyrinthus region of Mars. Along the pit's upper wall is a light-toned layered deposit. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
Three of Saturn's moons -- Tethys, Enceladus and Mimas -- are captured in this group photo from NASA's Cassini spacecraft. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
This image, acquired by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8, shows the glaciers of Sierra de Sangra on Jan. 14, 2015. Snow and ice are blue in these false-color images, which use different wavelengths to better differentiate areas of ice, rock, and vegetation. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)