One question I get a lot is can you see the stars differently from up in space. When we orbit on the night side of the planet, we get a view of the stars very much like being in a very dark place on Earth. And because of our orbital inclination, we get to see the stars of both the northern and southern hemisphere. I captured this shot of our galactic plane from one of the windows of the Crew Dragon Freedom that is docked to the zenith docking port.
On April 27th at about 10:40 PM GMT, I was in the @Space_Station Cupola and saw something really neat. I was scanning the sky to try to catch a glimpse of the approaching Progress MS-34 vehicle bringing new supplies. Just as we were passing over West Africa, I saw a bright object directly below us, streaking through the upper atmosphere. I saw its tail grow and then split apart into a shower of smaller pieces. I think it must have been some piece of orbital debris or a satellite breaking up as it entered the atmosphere. It was quite a light show!
By "time traveling" in opposite directions on two different sides of Mars, the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers are helping scientists reconstruct key details about the planet’s history.
Only one chance in this lifetime…
Like watching sunset at the beach from the most foreign seat in the cosmos, I couldn’t resist a cell phone video of Earthset. You can hear the shutter on the Nikon as @Astro_Christina is hammering away on 3-shot brackets and capturing those exceptional Earthset photos through the 400mm lens. @AstroVicGlover was in window 3 watching with @Astro_Jeremy next to him.
I could barely see the Moon through the docking hatch window but the iPhone was the perfect size to catch the view…this is uncropped, uncut with 8x zoom which is quite comparable to the view of the human eye. Enjoy.
New perspectives of our home planet.
As Artemis II flew around the Moon on April 6, the crew captured these images of a crescent Earth from hundreds of thousands of miles away. See the latest photos and videos: https://t.co/rzM1P0QbOl
"We will always choose each other."
Mission control has reacquired signal with the Artemis II crew after the mission’s planned loss of signal. Our astronauts are once again using the Deep Space Network to keep conversation and science data flowing between space and Earth.
New record🥇
The Artemis II astronauts are now farther from Earth than humans have ever been! At 1:57 p.m. EDT, they broke the record set by Apollo 13 in 1970.
Their journey around the far side of the Moon today will take them a maximum distance of 252,752 miles from Earth.
Even in darkness, we glow.
In this image of Earth taken by the Artemis II crew, we can see the electric lights of human activity. In the lower right, sunlight illuminates the limb of the planet.
That's us! 🌍
The Artemis II crew captured beautiful, high-resolution images of our home planet during their journey to the Moon. As @Astro_Christina put it: "You guys look great."
Which way to the Moon?
This interactive tool lets you follow Artemis’s journey – and even scroll forward and backward in time!
Follow along with Eyes on the Solar System:
https://t.co/tP3ecPR9GX
Liftoff.
The Artemis II mission launched from @NASAKennedy at 6:35pm ET (2235 UTC), propelling four astronauts on a journey around the Moon.
Artemis II will pave the way for future Moon landings, as well as the next giant leap — astronauts on Mars.