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Pictures of Spacecraft
Ariane 5 in French Guiana twilight
Exhaust from Ariane 5 VA213's twin solid rocket boosters is backlit by the waning French Guiana twilight on Wednesday, June 5, 2013. The rocket carried the European Space Agency's ATV Albert Einstein into orbit for an eventual docking with the International Space Station.
Filed under pretty pictures, spacecraft, International Space Station
LADEE delivered to NASA Wallops
The NASA Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) arrived at NASA Wallops on June 4, 2013, to begin final processing for its trip to the moon later that year.
Filed under mission status, spacecraft, LADEE
Artist concept of a solar sail in space
Filed under pretty pictures, art, spacecraft
The ARKYD 100 is the first private space telescope, to be operated in low-Earth orbit. It is a stepping-stone to the larger spacecraft planned to be used by Planetary Resources for asteroid prospecting.
Filed under pretty pictures, art, spacecraft, private spaceflight
Nine Month Time-Lapse of Photos Taken on Mars by the Curiosity Rover
This is a time lapse video from the Curiosity Rover, created using RAW data products from the Front Left Hazard Avoidance Camera (Hazcam) acquired during the period between Sol 0 (August 8, 2012) and Sol 281 (May 21, 2013).
Filed under animation, spacecraft, amateur image processing, Mars, Curiosity (Mars Science Laboratory)
Artist's conception of the 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft in orbit around Mars.
Filed under art, spacecraft, Mars, Mars Odyssey
Apollo 12 and Surveyor 3 Landing Site
A Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter closeup on the Mare Cognitum landing site of both the robotic spacecraft Surveyor 3 and Apollo 12. The Apollo descent stage, the Surveyor lander, the ALSEP experiment package and astronaut foot trails are all clearly visible. In this series of images taken on different days, the site is seen at various times from sunrise to sunset.
Filed under animation, spacecraft, amateur image processing, pics of spacecraft in space, the Moon, NASA lunar missions before 2005, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
Apollo 12 astronaut Pete Conrad and the Surveyor 3 lander
Filed under pretty pictures, pics of spacecraft in space, human spaceflight, astronaut, the Moon, NASA lunar missions before 2005
This image shows a simulated Opportunity about to descend into Victoria Crater via the rock-paved slopes of an alcove dubbed Duck Bay. Inside the crater, the rover examined the deeper, older rocks that harbored clues to Mars' wet past. Duck Bay has slopes of about 15 to 20 degrees and exposed bedrock, which made it the safest site for entry.
Filed under pretty pictures, art, spacecraft, Mars, Mars Exploration Rovers, Opportunity
In this picture of Home Plate, taken by the HiRISE camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, you can easily see the stark white figure that is Spirit to the left (west) of the geologic formation in this image color enhanced by Stuart Atkinson. "If you look carefully you can actually see bright trailing leading to Spirit - this is the result of the (right front) broken wheel being dragged through the dirt, unearthing brighter material beneath," he points out. For more of Atkinson's enhanced images and poems, check out his blog, Road to Endeavour at: http://roadtoendeavour.wordpress.com/
Filed under pretty pictures, spacecraft, amateur image processing, Mars, Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
An artist's concept of Galileo passing near Jupiter's small inner moon Amalthea. Galileo flew past the tiny moon in November 2002.
Filed under pretty pictures, art, many worlds, spacecraft, Jupiter, Jupiter's moons, Jupiter's small moons, Galileo
Chang'E 3 being lowered into chamber for thermal vacuum testing, May 2013
Taken from a post by user "Galactic Penguin" at the forum NASASpaceflight.com.
Filed under pretty pictures, spacecraft, Chang'E program
View from SpaceShipTwo of its rocket firing
The view from SpaceShipTwo's tail as her rocket motor fires during her first supersonic flight on April 29, 2013.
Filed under pretty pictures, spacecraft, private spaceflight
Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo first powered flight
SpaceShipTwo fires her rocket motor in flight for the first time in a flight over the Mojave Desert on April 29, 2013.
Filed under pretty pictures, spacecraft, private spaceflight
A vision for the Mars One project, whose goal is to establish a permanent human settlement on Mars by 2023.
Filed under pretty pictures, art, spacecraft, Future Mission Concepts, human spaceflight, private spaceflight, Mars
Comparison of objects in HiRISE image to model images of Mars 3 hardware
The left column contains cropped segments of HiRISE image PSP_006154_1345. The right column contains drawings of Mars-3 lander (top), soft-landing backshell rocket unit (second row), and heat shield (third row). The last row contains grayscale and color images of the putative parachute.
Filed under pretty pictures, spacecraft, amateur image processing, pics of spacecraft in space, Mars, Russian Mars missions
Mars 3 hardware on the Martian surface?
This is an enlargement of HiRISE image PSP_006154_1345. It possibly shows the Mars-3 lander's rocket-equipped backshell and the four-petaled soft lander.
Filed under pretty pictures, spacecraft, amateur image processing, pics of spacecraft in space, Mars, Russian Mars missions
Could This Be the Soviet Mars 3 Lander?
The Soviet Mars 3 lander hardware may have been found by Russian citizen enthusiasts following NASA's Curiosity rover.
Filed under pretty pictures, spacecraft, pics of spacecraft in space, Mars, Russian Mars missions, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
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