NASA

The people who get to see the Earth from space marvel at its beauty, the colors, the fragility they feel about the planet 250 miles below them. Now it’s your turn: this ultra-high definition video, captured during the International Space Station’s Expedition 65, allows you an extended, appreciative gawk at the home planet in all its glory. Hit play, and go into orbit mode. This footage was shot from the International Space Station between April 17, 2021 – Oct. 17, 2021

On August 12, meteor experts from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center provided commentary during NASA Television’s live coverage of the annual Perseid meteor shower. The Perseids have been observed for at least 2,000 years and are associated with the comet Swift-Tuttle, which orbits the sun once every 133 years. Every August, the Earth passes through a cloud of the comet’s debris. This debris field consists of bits of ice and dust — most over 1,000 years old — and burns up in Earth’s atmosphere to create one of the best meteor showers of the year.

The SpaceX Demo-2 test flight for NASA's Commercial Crew Program was the first to deliver astronauts to the International Space Station and return them safely to Earth onboard a commercially built and operated spacecraft. The crew launched on Saturday, May 30 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and arrived at the orbiting laboratory on May 31. The SpaceX Crew Dragon “Endeavour” splashed down off the coast of Pensacola, Florida, Sunday, Aug. 2 at 2:48 pm EDT following their undocking from the International Space Station Saturday, Aug. 1 at 7:35 pm EDT. During their 62 days aboard station, Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley contributed more than 100 hours of time to supporting the orbiting laboratory’s investigations, participated in public engagement events, and supported four spacewalks with Behnken and Cassidy to install new batteries in the station’s power grid and upgrade other station hardware. These activities are a part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which has been working with the U.S. aerospace industry to launch astronauts on American rockets and spacecraft from American soil the International Space Station for the first time since 2011. This is SpaceX’s final test flight and is providing data about the performance of the Falcon 9 rocket, Crew Dragon spacecraft and ground systems, as well as in-orbit, docking, splashdown and recovery operations.  The test flight also will help NASA certify SpaceX’s crew transportation system for regular flights carrying astronauts to and from the space station. SpaceX is readying the hardware for the first rotational mission that will occur following NASA certification, which is expected to take about six weeks. The goal of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is safe, reliable and cost-effective transportation to and from the International Space Station. This could allow for additional research time and increase the opportunity for discovery aboard humanity’s testbed for exploration, including helping us prepare for human exploration of the Moon and Mars.

Almost nine years after the final space shuttle mission, SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida May 30, an American rocket launching from American soil, placing NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken into orbit in the new Crew Dragon spacecraft for their journey to the International Space Station. Some 12 minutes after a spectacular liftoff from Launch Pad 39-A, Crew Dragon separated from the second stage of the Falcon 9 rocket and Hurley and Behnken began monitoring a series of test objectives for the duration of the vehicle’s 19-hour flight to the orbital outpost in the first crewed mission for the Commercial Crew Program. The veteran astronauts are scheduled to oversee an automated docking of Crew Dragon to the station May 31 to join NASA astronaut and Expedition 63 Commander Chris Cassidy of NASA and Russian crewmates Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner.