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Pictures of Spacecraft
Minerva hopper and Hayabusa's shadow at Itokawa
A photo of the asteroid Itokawa from the Hayabusa spacecraft on November 12, 2005 shows the Minerva lander (dot inside the yellow circle, and detail inside the yellow square) near the asteroid. Minerva was released and activated successfully but failed to land on Itokawa. The dark bow-tie shape on Itokawa is the shadow of Hayabusa.
Filed under pretty pictures, spacecraft, pics of spacecraft in space, asteroids, asteroid 25143 Itokawa, Hayabusa (MUSES-C)
Hayabusa touches its sample collection horn to the surface of asteroid Itokawa. A small blue target marker on the surface in the foreground was released by Hayabusa to guide it safely to the surface. The entire sample collection process only took one second.
Filed under pretty pictures, art, spacecraft, asteroids, asteroid 25143 Itokawa, Hayabusa (MUSES-C)
New Horizons will spend most of 2015 training its package of seven imagers, spectrometers, and in situ plasma instruments on the Pluto system.
Filed under pretty pictures, spacecraft, presentation slides, Pluto, New Horizons
New Horizons at Pluto, July 2015
Artist's concept of New Horizons as it reaches Pluto.
Filed under pretty pictures, art, spacecraft, trans-neptunian objects, Charon, Pluto, dwarf planets beyond Neptune, New Horizons
'Scuse me while I kiss the sky...
The Atlas 5 rocket carrying the Curiosity rover passes through a cloud bank on its way to space.
Filed under pretty pictures, spacecraft, rockets, Curiosity (Mars Science Laboratory)
Curiosity MAHLI self-portrait, sol 177
A total of 64 frames shot by the MAHLI on the end of Curiosity's robotic arm were required for this large mosaic. On sol 177 (February 3, 2013), the rover was sitting at the "John Klein" site, preparing to drill for the first time. Zoom in at lower left and you can see two gray marks on the ground where Curiosity tested out the drill in percussion mode on sols 174 and 176.
Filed under pretty pictures, amateur image processing, pics of spacecraft in space, Mars, Curiosity (Mars Science Laboratory)
Color view Curiosity on Mars from HiRISE, sol 157
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter snapped this color photo of Curiosity on the rover's sol 157 (January 14, 2013). The rover was at the "Snake River" site within Yellowknife Bay. It is rotated to place north at left in order to show it larger on the website.
Filed under pretty pictures, spacecraft, pics of spacecraft in space, Mars, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Curiosity (Mars Science Laboratory)
This amazing view was captured by the CIVA camera on Rosetta's Philae lander just four minutes before its closest approach to Mars on February 25, 2007. The spacecraft was only 1,000 kilometers above the planet. Part of the spacecraft bus fills the view on the left side, and one of the long solar panels stretches out across the center. In the background is the globe of Mars, the view looking down on Cydonia mensae. The original photo was black-and-white; this version is colorized.
Filed under best of, pretty pictures, spacecraft, pics of spacecraft in space, Mars, Rosetta and Philae
Space shuttle Atlantis lands at Edwards Air Force Base in California, completing the final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope.
Filed under pretty pictures, spacecraft, human spaceflight, Space Shuttle program
Backdropped by the blackness of space and the thin line of Earth's atmosphere, space shuttle Atlantis' payload bay, Canadian-built remote manipulator system robotic arm, vertical stabilizer and orbital maneuvering system pods are featured in this image photographed by an STS-125 crew member on Flight Day 10.
Filed under pretty pictures, spacecraft, pics of spacecraft in space, human spaceflight, Space Shuttle program
The International Space Station (May 2010)
The International Space Station photographed by a crew member on Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-132) as the shuttle approached for docking on May 16, 2010.
Filed under pretty pictures, spacecraft, human spaceflight, Space Shuttle program, International Space Station
Bigelow Expandable Activity Module
NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver and Bigelow Aerospace Founder and President Robert Bigelow talk in front of the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) during a media briefing in Las Vegas.
Filed under spacecraft, International Space Station, private spaceflight
Orion with ESA service module, labeled version
The Orion crew capsule with its ESA-designed service module, shown here in a breakaway diagram.
Filed under spacecraft, human spaceflight, future technology
Orion with service module and upper stage
The Orion capsule and ESA-designed service module are seen here shortly after launch, with the service module's solar arrays deployed. The preliminary upper stage of the Space Launch System -- the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion System -- is still attached.
Filed under spacecraft, human spaceflight, future technology
Curiosity on Mars from HiRISE, sol 145
HiRISE shot this view of Curiosity and its tracks, leading all the way back to the landing site, on January 2, 2013 (sol 145). Curiosity was in Yellowknife Bay, at the site from which it took the "Grandma's House" panorama.
Filed under pretty pictures, spacecraft, pics of spacecraft in space, Mars, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Curiosity (Mars Science Laboratory)
Filed under pretty pictures, art, spacecraft, BepiColombo
An artist's depiction of Kepler in orbit around the Sun.
Filed under pretty pictures, art, spacecraft, astronomy and astrophysics spacecraft, Kepler
The final resting place of Lunokhod 2
Lunokhod 2 roved 37 kilometers across the Moon over five lunar days (Earth months) in 1973. This image, taken by Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's high-resolution camera, shows the final resting place of Lunokod 2, as well as the crater that caused its death.
Filed under pretty pictures, spacecraft, pics of spacecraft in space, the Moon, Soviet lunar missions, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
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