In 2019, in order to celebrate60 years of NASA, the Google Arts & Culture Lab createda vast visual archive. A collection of some of the best images captured by NASA for us to explore and enjoy.
Using NASA’s public API, Google has put its machine learning to work exploring a vast collection of historic photos dating all the way back to 1915. This archive includes 127,000 images that have been analysed and categorised for us to journey through.
We’ve put together a selection of our favourites to whet your appetite.
Several decades have passed since NASA first landed men on the Moon. Now the agency is planning on doing it again.
It has recently rolled out theSpace Launch System (SLS) megarocketand successfully sent Artemis 1 to the Moon and back. The plan is now to return astronauts to the Moon’s surface by the end of the decade.
Extravehicular Activities
Here’s a taste of some of the awesome views that astronauts get to witness while carrying out their work.
This shot shows so-called Extravehicular Activities happening at 356 nautical miles above the Earth. With the west coast of Australia forming the superb backdrop.
The Blue Marble
The image of our planet was captured in 2014. It was put together using the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite on the Suomi NPP satellite and shows a composite of several different images combined to give a complete picture.
The composite imageof the eastern hemisphere shows our planet with a beautiful blue hue. It looks more like a marble than a home. Thetime-lapse video viewof this image is also fairly fantastic.
Mercury shows its colours
This image was captured in 2008 and shows incredible detail of the surface of Mercury, a planet that’s a staggering 48 million miles from our home world.
See more of Mercury at NASA’s Visual Universe.
Clouds of Atlantis
An incredible view of the Space Shuttle Atlantis launching off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in 2009. Atlantis is one of the largest cargo carriers and this launch sent the shuttle skyward to resupply the International Space Station and return Nicole Stott to Earth after two months aboard the station.
See more images of Atlantis at NASA’s Visual Universe.
One final Endeavour
In 2011, theSpace Shuttle Endeavourtook off for its final space flight launching from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
The Endeavour had seen a fair amount of action during its time - including 25 different missions with a total of 173 different crew members. It had spent 296 days in space and traveled over 100 million miles.
See more images of the Space Shuttle Endeavour at NASA’s Visual Universe.
A marble view of Pluto
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft captured high-resolution enhanced colour images of Pluto in 2015 as it passed by the planet. Meanwhile, the Chandra X-ray Observatory observedinteresting X-Ray activityfrom the planet’s surroundings. These X-Rays appeared to be much more than a cold, rocky world should be able to emit, which lead to some debate.
See more images of Pluto at NASA’s Visual Universe.
A Moon with a view
In 2011, a full moon was photographed by the crew of the International Space Station with the Earth’s horizon and the blackness of surrounding space also making an appearance.
Spacecraft on approach
This view shows the Soyuz TMA-7 spacecraft approaching the International Space Station. A brilliant view of Earth and the vastness of space makes for a fairly spectacular backdrop.
A brilliant light show
A spectacular view of the Aurora Borealis taken over Canada in 2017. This magnificent image of the light phenomena is just one of the incredible sights of our world regularly spotted by the occupants of the International Space Station.
