ALT A full Moon is in view from Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 14, 2022. The Artemis I Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft, atop the mobile launcher, are being prepared for a wet dress rehearsal to practice timelines and procedures for launch. The first in an increasingly complex series of missions, Artemis I will test SLS and Orion as an integrated system prior to crewed flights to the Moon. Through Artemis, NASA will land the first woman and first person of color on the lunar surface, paving the way for a long-term lunar presence and using the Moon as a steppingstone on the way to Mars. Credit: NASA/Cory Huston

ALT This image of Stephan’s Quintet, a visual grouping of five galaxies, is contains over 150 million pixels and is constructed from almost 1,000 separate image files. Sparkling clusters of millions of young stars and starburst regions of fresh star birth grace the image. Sweeping tails of gas, dust and stars are being pulled from several of the galaxies due to gravitational interactions. Most dramatically, Webb captures huge shock waves as one of the galaxies, NGC 7318B, smashes through the cluster. Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

ALT This landscape of “mountains” and “valleys” speckled with glittering stars is actually the edge of a nearby, young, star-forming region called NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula. Captured in infrared light by NASA’s new James Webb Space Telescope, this image reveals for the first time previously invisible areas of star birth. Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

ALT Two cameras aboard Webb captured the latest image of this planetary nebula, cataloged as NGC 3132, and known informally as the Southern Ring Nebula. Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

ALT NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has produced the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date, known as Webb’s First Deep Field, this image shows galaxy cluster SMACS 0723. Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

ALT An Apollo 10 photograph of Earth taken from 100,000 miles away. Visible are many areas of Europe and Africa. Among the features and countries identifiable are Portugal, Spain, Italy, the Mediterranean Sea, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, the Black Sea, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the Sinai Peninsula, the Nile Delta, Lake Chad, and South Africa. Image credit: NASA

ALT A composite image of four Moons in various stages of eclipse.

ALT An artist's concept of the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System with its large silver sail unfurled in low Earth orbit. The Earth horizon is visible below, and stands out against the black backdrop of space. Credit: NASA/Aero Animation/Ben Schweighart

ALT Artist's illustration of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope.

ALT Earth experienced a geomagnetic storm and aurora were visible in the Northern U.S. states. These images of aurora were captured on March 17, 2015, around 5:30 a.m. EDT in Donnelly Creek, Alaska by Sebastian Saarloos. These aurora might have been caused by the fast solar wind streaming from two solar coronal holes. Credit: NASA

ALT In this rare image taken on July 19, 2013, the wide-angle camera on NASA's Cassini spacecraft has captured Saturn's rings and Earth in the same frame. Earth and the moon appear as mere dots -- Earth a pale blue and the moon a stark white, visible between Saturn's rings. It was the first time Cassini's highest-resolution camera captured Earth and its moon as two distinct objects. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

ALT A full Moon is pictured above the Earth's horizon as the International Space Station orbited 263 miles above the Washington-Oregon border in northwestern United States. Credit: NASA

ALT The Helix Nebula which appears like a spooky red eye peering out from the cosmos.

ALT This image of the tentacle-like Crab Nebula against the dark backdrop of space combines data from five different telescopes: the VLA (radio) in red; Spitzer Space Telescope (infrared) in yellow; Hubble Space Telescope (visible) in green; XMM-Newton (ultraviolet) in blue; and Chandra X-ray Observatory (X-ray) in purple Image credit: Image Credit: NASA, ESA, NRAO/AUI/NSF and G. Dubner (University of Buenos Aires)

ALT A full Moon is pictured from the International Space Station as the orbiting complex flew 270 miles above the South Pacific Ocean off the coast of South America. The Moon is pictured slightly above center of the image with a dark blue gradient of Earth's atmosphere behind it. Image credit: NASA

ALT Active regions on the sun combined to look something like a jack-o-lantern’s face on Oct. 8, 2014. The active regions appear brighter because those are areas that emit more light and energy — markers of an intense and complex set of magnetic fields hovering in the sun’s atmosphere, the corona. This image blends together two sets of wavelengths at 171 and 193 Angstroms, typically colorized in gold and yellow, to create a particularly Halloween-like appearance. Credit: NASA/Goddard/SDO

ALT Full Moon is visible above Earth's horizon which appears to be a hazy blue against the black backdrop of space and is speckled with white clouds. Credit: NASA

ALT Illustration of Kepler 138, a red dwarf star located 218 light-years away. The low density of Kepler-138 c and Kepler-138 d – which are nearly identical in size – means that they must be composed largely of water. They are both twice Earth's mass but have roughly half of Earth's density, and therefore cannot be solid rock. This is based on measurements of their mass versus physical diameter. They are considered a new class of "water planet," unlike any major planet found in our solar system. Kepler-138 b is one of the smallest exoplanets known, having the mass of the planet Mars and the density of rock. Credits: NASA, ESA, and Leah Hustak (STScI)

ALT Image of CAPSTONE spacecraft illuminated by the Sun and with the Moon behind it. Credit: NASA/Daniel Rutter

ALT This image, taken with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 on board the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows the globular cluster Terzan 1. Lying around 20 000 light-years from us in the constellation of Scorpius (The Scorpion), it is one of about 150 globular clusters belonging to our galaxy, the Milky Way. Typical globular clusters are collections of around a hundred thousand stars, held together by their mutual gravitational attraction in a spherical shape a few hundred light-years across. It is thought that every galaxy has a population of globular clusters. Some, like the Milky Way, have a few hundred, while giant elliptical galaxies can have several thousand. They contain some of the oldest stars in a galaxy, hence the reddish colours of the stars in this image — the bright blue ones are foreground stars, not part of the cluster.

ALT NASA Ames scientist Dr. Patricia Cowings.

ALT This Solar Dynamics Observatory image of the Sun taken on February 1, 2013 in extreme ultraviolet light captures a heart-shaped dark coronal hole. Coronal holes are areas of the Sun's surface that are the source of open magnetic field lines that head way out into space. They are also the source regions of the fast solar wind, which is characterized by a relatively steady speed of approximately 800 km/s (about 1.8 million mph).

ALT This Solar Dynamics Observatory image of the Sun taken on February 1, 2013 in extreme ultraviolet light captures a heart-shaped dark coronal hole. Coronal holes are areas of the Sun's surface that are the source of open magnetic field lines that head way out into space. They are also the source regions of the fast solar wind, which is characterized by a relatively steady speed of approximately 800 km/s (about 1.8 million mph).

ALT A perigee full moon or supermoon is seen, Sunday, August 10, 2014, in Washington. A supermoon occurs when the moon’s orbit is closest (perigee) to Earth at the same time it is full. Photo Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

ALT Earth Observation taken during a day pass by the Expedition 40 crew aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Folder lists this as: Central Europe.

ALT This composite image features a double star cluster, a blue-tinted cloud, and several neon purple dots. This double cluster is part of the Large Magellanic Cloud, a companion galaxy to the Milky Way. The bright, golden stars in the larger cluster fill the upper center of the image. The other cluster is much smaller and coincides with one of the neon purple circles located slightly above and to the right of the image’s center. This and the other purple circles are X-ray sources detected with Chandra. To our left of the combined cluster is a vertical streak of blue-tinted cloud.

ALT An image of Betelgeuse, the yellow-red star, and the signature of its close companion, the faint blue object. Data: NASA/JPL/NOIRlab. Visualization: NOIRLAB.

ALT The full moon is pictured from the International Space Station as the orbiting complex orbited 263 miles above the South Atlantic Ocean. Credit: NASA

ALT Atlantic Ocean, Antarctica, looking west, as photographed from the Earth-orbital Apollo 4 unmanned space mission. A black backdrop of space allows the blue crescent shaped Earth limb stand out. This picture was taken when the Spacecraft 017 and the Saturn S-IVB (third) stage was orbiting Earth at an altitude of 8,628 nautical miles. Credit: NASA

ALT Pioneer Plaque.

ALT Plaque to commemorate the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, signed by John Glenn representing the Mercury astronauts, James McDivitt for the Gemini astronauts, and Neil Armstrong representing Apollo astronauts.

ALT An image of the Moon captured May 3, 2023, by CAPSTONE, short for Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation, while the spacecraft was near its closest approach to the Moon’s North Pole. The center of the image is approximately located at 25° N, 85° E on the lunar surface. Credits: ©Advanced Space 2023, all rights reserved

ALT X-ray, Optical & Infrared Composite of Kepler's Supernova Remnant "On October 9, 1604, sky watchers -- including astronomer Johannes Kepler, spotted a "new star" in the western sky, rivaling the brilliance of nearby planets. "Kepler's supernova" was the last exploding supernova seen in our Milky Way galaxy. Blue: X-ray (4-6 keV), en:Chandra X-ray Observatory, The higher-energy X-rays come primarily from the regions directly behind the shock front. Green: X-ray (0.3-1.4 keV), en:Chandra X-ray Observatory; Lower-energy X-rays mark the location of the hot remains of the exploded star. Yellow: Optical, en:Hubble Space Telescope; The optical image reveals 10,000 degrees Celsius gas where the supernova shock wave is slamming into the densest regions of surrounding gas. Red: Infrared, en:Spitzer space telescope; The infrared image highlights microscopic dust particles swept up and heated by the supernova shock wave. Credit: NASA/ESA/JHU/R.Sankrit & W.Blair

ALT Image of Moon over Earth's limb with moonlit clouds below.

ALT Titan, the largest moon in this image, appears fuzzy because we only see its cloud layers. And because Titan's atmosphere refracts light around the moon, its crescent "wraps" just a little further around the moon than it would on an airless body. Rhea (upper left) appears rough because its icy surface is heavily cratered. And a close inspection of Mimas (center bottom), though difficult to see at this scale, shows surface irregularities due to its own violent history. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera at a distance of approximately 2.7 million miles (4.3 million kilometers) from Titan. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

ALT CAPSTONE spacecraft render on its way to the Moon. The lunar surface serves as its backdrop in space. Credit: NASA/Daniel Rutter.

ALT In this photograph, the ascent stage for Apollo 11 is seen back dropped by the lunar surface and Earth in the distant space just prior to its rendezvous with the command module containing Michael Collins, Command Module pilot. Aboard the spacecraft pictured were astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, commander, and Edwin E. (Buzz) Aldrin Jr., Lunar Module pilot. Credit: NASA

ALT A cloud-covered Earth is in the center of the image. The clouds create a marble-like view, as blue oceans peak out from below them. Though there is much cloud coverage, the United States, some parts of Mexico, and Centeral America are visible. Credit: NASA

ALT Giant star-forming nebula with massive young stellar clusters. Credit: NASA, ESA, R. O'Connell (University of Virginia), F. Paresce (National Institute for Astrophysics, Bologna, Italy), E. Young (Universities Space Research Association/Ames Research Center), the WFC3 Science Oversight Committee, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

ALT The Sun appears partially eclipsed in this series of photos taken from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston on August 21, 2017. Credit: NASA/Noah Moran

ALT Early morning view of Pad A, Launch Complex 39, Kennedy Space Center, showing Apollo 4 (Spacecraft 017/Saturn 501) unmanned, earth-orbital space mission ready for launch, with a full moon in the upper left part of the image. The 363-foot tall Apollo/Saturn V space vehicle was launched at 7:00:01 AM (EST), November 9, 1967. Credit: NASA

ALT CAPSTONE spacecraft illuminated by the Sun as it orbits the Moon.

ALT Magnetic fields in Messier 82, or the Cigar galaxy, are shown as lines over a visible light and infrared composite image of the galaxy from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Spitzer Space Telescope. Stellar winds streaming from hot new stars form a galactic super wind that is blasting out plumes of hot gas (red) and a huge halo of smoky dust (yellow/orange) perpendicular to the narrow galaxy (white). Researchers used the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy magnetic field data and tools that have been used extensively to study the physics around the Sun to extrapolate the magnetic field’s strength 20,000 lights-years around the galaxy. They appear to extend indefinitely into intergalactic space, like the Sun’s solar wind, and may help explain how the gas and dust have traveled so far away from the galaxy. Credits: NASA, SOFIA, L. Proudfit; NASA, ESA, Hubble Heritage Team; NASA, JPL-Caltech, C. Engelbracht

ALT Former Ames Center Director Henry McDonald

ALT Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., pilot of the Gemini-12 spaceflight, took this picture of the Gemini-12 spacecraft during standup extravehicular activity (EVA) with the hatch open. This is a view looking forward showing the adapter section. Photo credit: NASA

ALT This image from NASA Spitzer and GALEX shows the Helix nebula, a dying star throwing a cosmic tantrum. In death, the star dusty outer layers are unraveling into space, glowing from the intense UV radiation being pumped out by the hot stellar core. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

ALT The full moon is illuminated near the top center of the image against the black of space. Below, Earth's horizon runs diagonally across the bottom, it's atmosphere glowing blue, peppered with white clouds. Credit: NASA

ALT This image of the Orion nebula, the brightest spot in the sword of the constellation Orion, shows carbon-rich molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) as wisps of red and orange. This image was captured through a team-up of the Hubble and Spitzer telescopes, two predecessors of the James Webb Space Telescope. “With Webb we'll be able to see far more detail, including variation in the wisps of PAHs that we currently must paint with a relatively broad brush,” said Christiaan Boersma, an astronomer at Ames and joint principal investigator on a project that will use Webb to study PAHs. Boersma is an extended core team member on a Webb Early Release Science project studying this exact region in Orion. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/STScI

ALT A prominent, eight-pointed star shines in bright white at the center of this image. A clumpy cloud of material surrounds this central star, with more material above and below than on the sides, in some places allowing background stars to peek through. The cloud material is a dark yellow closer to the star, and turns a pinkish purple at its outer edges. Combined together, the central star and its cloud resemble the delicate petals of a cherry blossom. The black background features many smaller white stars scattered throughout. Image credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/Webb ERO Production Team

ALT Red dual opposing jets coming from young stars fill the darker top half of the image. At bottom center is a glowing pale yellow, cave-like structure, its top tilted toward two o’clock, with a bright star at its center. The dust of the cave structure becomes wispy toward eight o’clock. Above the arched top of the dust cave, 3 groupings of stars with diffraction spikes are arranged. A dark cloud sits atop the arch of the glowing dust cave, with one streamer curling down the right-hand side. The dark shadow of the cloud appears pinched in the center, with light emerging in a triangle shape above and below the pinch, revealing the presence of a star inside the cloud. The largest jets of red material emanate from within this dark cloud, glowing brighter at the edges. At top center, a star displays another, larger pinched dark shadow. To the left of this star is a more wispy, indistinct region. Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/Klaus Pontoppidan, Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

ALT CAPSTONE Spacecraft arriving at lunar orbit illustration credit NASA/Daniel Rutter.

ALT Vice President Kamala Harris talks with representatives from aerospace companies from across the space industry in front of a replica of the James Webb Space Telescope’s mirror at Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland, California. Accompanying her are Governor Gavin Newsom, FAA Acting Administrator Billy Nolen, and Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, from left to right. Chabot hosted a meeting of the National Space Council, bringing together representatives from NASA, nine aerospace companies, and guests. Chabot is home to the NASA Experience, a hands-on exhibit and the official visitor center for NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. Credit: NASA/Dominc Hart

ALT The conjunction of Venus and Mars on July 12th will result in the two planet's appearing only a finger's width apart in the night sky.

ALT NASA's Cassini spacecraft captured this view of golden-hued Saturn and its main rings. This mosaic was made from 36 images in three color filters obtained by Cassini's imaging science subsystem on Oct. 10, 2013. The view is in natural color, as human eyes would see it. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/Cornell

ALT Image of CAPSTONE Spacecraft in orbit with the Moon behind it. Credit: NASA/Daniel Rutter

ALT This view of a sunrise was taken as the Russia's Mir Space Station was on a descending track toward Johnston Island, in the central Pacific. Against a black backdrop of space a bright star shape shines brightly on the right side of the image as the Sun becomes visible, illuminating a thin blue line that marks the horizon of Earth. Credit: NASA

ALT Astronaut John W. Young, commander of the Apollo 16 lunar landing mission, leaps from the lunar surface as he salutes the United States flag at the Descartes landing site during the first Apollo 16 extravehicular activity.

ALT Rendering of the CAPSTONE spacecraft with the Earth behind to its left and the Moon to its right. Credit: NASA/Daniel Rutter