Help Shape the Future of Space Exploration

Join The Planetary Society Now  arrow.png

Join our eNewsletter for updates & action alerts

    Please leave this field empty
Explore

Pictures of Spacecraft

Spirit's specular reflection

Spirit's specular reflection

When HiRISE took a photo of Spirit's resting spot in Gusev crater on March 31, 2011, it happened to be in exactly the right position to catch a specular reflection (a glint) from the rover's solar panels. Apart from being pretty, it signifies that there was not a thick coating of dust on the panels.

Filed under pretty pictures, pics of spacecraft in space, Mars, Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Opportunity on Endeavour's rim

Opportunity on Endeavour's rim

This HiRISE image, taken on September 10, 2011, shows the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity sitting atop some light-toned outcrops on the rim of Endeavour Crater, near a smaller crater informally named Odyssey.

Filed under pretty pictures, pics of spacecraft in space, Mars, Mars Exploration Rovers, Opportunity, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Phoenix landing site monitoring from HiRISE: Jan. 26, 2012

Phoenix landing site monitoring from HiRISE: Jan. 26, 2012

Just before the summer solstice, the Sun is 40 degrees above the horizon. The dark bounce mark and bright parachute that originally made the landing site easy to spot have apparently vanished. Now the best way to recognize the landing site is from the dark shadows thrown by the lander and backshell.

Filed under pretty pictures, amateur image processing, pics of spacecraft in space, Mars, Phoenix, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Opportunity at Santa Maria

Opportunity at Santa Maria

The HiRISE camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter acquired this view of Opportunity sitting at the edge of the 100-meter-diameter crater Santa Maria on December 31, 2010, or sol 2466 of the rover's mission.

Filed under pretty pictures, pics of spacecraft in space, Mars, Mars Exploration Rovers, Opportunity, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Opportunity on Endeavour's rim (detail)

Opportunity on Endeavour's rim (detail)

This HiRISE image, taken on September 10, 2011, shows the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity sitting atop some light-toned outcrops on the rim of Endeavour Crater, near a smaller crater informally named Odyssey.

Filed under pretty pictures, spacecraft, pics of spacecraft in space, Mars, Mars Exploration Rovers, Opportunity, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Photo inside the Hayabusa sample capsule

Photo inside the Hayabusa sample capsule

A photo taken on June 28, 2010 through the window of its protective vacuum chamber shows the clean-looking interior of Hayabusa's small sample return capsule.

Filed under pretty pictures, spacecraft, Hayabusa (MUSES-C)

Rosetta

Rosetta

Artist's impression of the Rosetta spacecraft

Filed under pretty pictures, art, spacecraft, Rosetta and Philae

Hayabusa's first landing

Hayabusa's first landing

A puff of its chemical thrusters lifts Hayabusa off from Itokawa after its dangerous first landing.

Filed under pretty pictures, art, spacecraft, Hayabusa (MUSES-C)

Three rovers and a lander, with Carl Sagan for scale

Three rovers and a lander, with Carl Sagan for scale

Models of a Viking Lander, a Mars Exploration Rover (Spirit or Opportunity), Sojourner, and Curiosity, with Carl Sagan for scale.

Filed under pretty pictures, fun, spacecraft, scale comparisons, Mars Pathfinder and Sojourner, Mars Exploration Rovers, Opportunity, Spirit, Curiosity (Mars Science Laboratory)

Endeavour's belly

Endeavour's belly

Astronauts aboard the Space Station took this photo of the underside of Endeavour on August 10, 2007 during the STS-118 mission, as part of an inspection of the Shuttle's heat-resistant tiles.

Filed under pretty pictures, spacecraft, Space Shuttle program

Huygens Art Contest First Prize Winner:

Huygens Art Contest First Prize Winner: "Titan Touchdown"

Hettick says: "The Titan question had been discussed at length on the International Association of Astronomical Artists (IAAA) member's listserver -- and I was intrigued by the conversations about �What will the surface really be like? What color will the sky turn out to be? Could Saturn or any stars actually be visible from Titan's surface? I decided to paint "Titan Touchdown" the way I would expect the surface to look and I decided to downplay the mechanical and technical aspects of the probe itself --

Filed under pretty pictures, Huygens, Titan, spacecraft, art

Curiosity's face in 3D

Curiosity's face in 3D

3d Red-blue analgyph of the "face" of Curiosity, shot by Emily Lakdawalla while in the clean room at JPL.

Filed under pretty pictures, 3D, spacecraft, Curiosity (Mars Science Laboratory)

Galileo over Jupiter's moon Io

Galileo over Jupiter's moon Io

Galileo arrived at Jupiter on December 7, 1995, and plunged into the planet on September 21, 2003. The image shows the spacecraft's high gain antenna fully deployed, whereas in fact it never fully opened.

Filed under pretty pictures, art, spacecraft, Galileo

Falcon Heavy

Falcon Heavy

The Falcon Heavy is SpaceX's entry into the heavy lift launch vehicle category.

Filed under pretty pictures, art, spacecraft, private spaceflight, rockets

Items 221 - 240 of 337  Previous11121314151617Next

Connect With Us

Facebook! Twitter! Google+ and more…
Continue the conversation with our online community!