Posted by SpaceSightSeer on May 11, 2009 under Collections | 
GRIN - Great Images in NASA
If its an acronym, it must be NASA! GRIN - Great Images in NASA - is one of the more clever. GRIN is maintained by NASA History Office at NASA Headquarters and contains over a thousand of the more popular NASA photos throughout the agency’s history. Images are high resolution in a variety of sizes. Some are selected for historical value, others due to popularity. If you’ve ever wondered where to get a copy of a space picture you’ve seen in the news, this is the first place to look.
Posted by SpaceSightSeer on May 4, 2009 under Unmanned Missions |
Messenger Mission to Mercury
Messenger, NASA’s first spacecraft to visit Mercury has completed two flybys of the planet Venus and two of Mercury itself. Another flyby of Mercury is planned for later this fall before beginning a yearlong orbit in March 2011. JHU’s Applied Physics Lab has begun to release images from the October 2008 flyby of Mercury. According to investigators, the latest images revealed gave scientists a look at a previously unknown impact basin. Dubbed the Rembrant Basin, the feature is more than 430 miles or roughly the distance between Washington, D.C., and Boston.
Posted by SpaceSightSeer on April 16, 2009 under Deep Space Imagery, Unmanned Missions |
Kepler Image Gallery
Kepler, NASA’s first mission capable of finding Earth-size and smaller planets around other stars, has returned its first pictures revealing millions of stars within its field of view.
“Kepler’s first glimpse of the sky is awe-inspiring,” said Lia LaPiana, Kepler’s program executive at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “To be able to see millions of stars in a single snapshot is simply breathtaking.”
One new image from Kepler shows its entire field of view — a 100-square-degree portion of the sky, equivalent to two side-by-side dips of the Big Dipper. The regions contain an estimated 14 millions stars, more than 100,000 of which were selected as ideal candidates for planet hunting.
Over the next three-and-a-half years, Kepler will scan pre-selected stars for planetary evidence. It is the first NASA mission optimized specifically to seek out Earth-sized planets.
Posted by SpaceSightSeer on April 12, 2009 under Manned Spaceflight |
STS-1
On April April 12, 1981 at 7:00:03 a.m. EST, NASA began a new chapter in manned spaceflight with the maiden voyage of the Space Shuttle Columbia. In a mission lasting 2 days, 6 hours astronaut John Young and Robert Crippen tested the performance of the shuttle and demonstrated a safe launch and return. Payloads included the Developmental Flight Instrumentation (DFI) and the Aerodynamic Coefficient Identifications Package (ACIP) pallet containing equipment for recording temperatures, pressures and acceleration levels at various points on the vehicle. Linked is NASA’s gallery of press release images from the mission as we mark the anniverry of the shuttle’s maiden voyage.
Posted by SpaceSightSeer on March 30, 2009 under Spacecraft |
On Monday (March 30, 2009) visitors to the National Mall in Washington, DC were treated to a rare first look at NASA’s Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle. The full scale mockup of the capsule, which has had infrequent public display, was en route to Florida from NAVSEA Carderock in Bethesda where it underwent water testing.
Orion is under development as part of NASA’s Constellation program. NASA plans for Orion include future lunar missions and as an emergency return vehicle for the International Space Station. The crew module, reminiscent of the Apollo capsule, is noticeably larger as it is designed for a crew of 6.
This slide show contains a handful of pictures I was able to take myself. Click on any image view it full size in a new window.
Posted by SpaceSightSeer on March 27, 2009 under Manned Spaceflight |
Images from Apollo
On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong took “one small step” and “a giant leap for mankind.” NASA is commemorating this historic moment with a series of activities throughout the year. Thousands of images along with archival footage have been released in this online gallery.
Apollo 40th Anniversary
Posted by SpaceSightSeer on March 2, 2009 under Collections |
NASA Image Exchange
The NASA Image Exchange is not an actual image collection, but a multimedia search engine. It allows you to search for photos, videos and audio clips from several NASA archives in a single search. Not every NASA collection is included, however, nor does the site disclose which are included and which are not. Sometimes it can be difficult to find keywords that work. The search seems to work best with very general search terms. Regardless, it can be a useful resource for the space image hunter.
Posted by SpaceSightSeer on January 17, 2009 under Manned Spaceflight |
NASA Human Spaceflight Gallery
This site does better with current events over historical photos, though some historical photos are included. NASA has created a system of quick menus to allow the visitor to jump to collections of images organized by mission. The past few years are fairly complete with images from the International Space Station and the Space Shuttle. Older materials are included, but appear to be only selectively included.
Tags: apollo, constellation, gemini, human spaceflight, images, mercury, NASA, photos, pictures, shuttle, skylab, space station
