
ALT Astronaut Douglas Wheelock pilots the M-Cab with the lunar lander configuration of the Vertical Motion Simulator (VMS) in N243. As part of the agency’s Human Landing System (HLS) program, lunar lander simulations will be integrated into the VMS. These simulations will help develop the manual control system for crewed lunar landers during the approach and landing phases of the Artemis IV mission and beyond. Credit: NASA/Brandon Torres Navarrete

ALT Astronaut Douglas Wheelock “hearts” Earth in the background of the M-Cab with the lunar lander configuration of the Vertical Motion Simulator (VMS) in N243. As part of the agency’s Human Landing System (HLS) program, lunar lander simulations will be integrated into the VMS. These simulations will help develop the manual control system for crewed lunar landers during the approach and landing phases of the Artemis IV mission and beyond. Credit: NASA/Brandon Torres Navarrete

ALT Astronaut Douglas Wheelock pilots the M-Cab with the lunar lander configuration of the Vertical Motion Simulator (VMS) in N243. As part of the agency’s Human Landing System (HLS) program, lunar lander simulations will be integrated into the VMS. These simulations will help develop the manual control system for crewed lunar landers during the approach and landing phases of the Artemis IV mission and beyond. Credit: NASA/Brandon Torres Navarrete

ALT Astronaut Douglas Wheelock, left, and Haroon Khan pilot the M-Cab with the lunar lander configuration of the Vertical Motion Simulator (VMS) in N243. As part of the agency’s Human Landing System (HLS) program, lunar lander simulations will be integrated into the VMS. These simulations will help develop the manual control system for crewed lunar landers during the approach and landing phases of the Artemis IV mission and beyond. Credit: NASA/Brandon Torres Navarrete

ALT This black and white image was taken in 1962, showing a steerable parachute in the Ames 40-by-80 foot wind tunnel. The parachute is mounted to a control head and projects outward to the left. This was an early design of an Apollo parachute tested at Ames, ultimately shaping the development of the parachutes used during Apollo missions. Credit: NASA

ALT Against a black background, a ghostly, blue silhouette takes shape amongst white, yellow, blue, and orange twinkling stars. The glowing apparition comes to a point in the top right of the frame, and rounded recesses just below resemble a brow, eyes, and an open mouth. The blue phantom emits a subtle red glow. Credit: NASA/ESA, and STScI/Acknowledgment: H. Arab (University of Strasbourg)

ALT The image is dominated by a hazy nebula in space. The center of the nebula glows a whitish blue, which grades concentrically to reddish brown at its edges before fading to black. A bright, young star near the center of the image emits four thin beams of light in a diagonal cross shape. This star sits on the border of a black, keyhole-shaped void in the center of the frame. In the background of the image, three red-and-yellow pinpoints of light glow from the darkness. Two of these spots resemble a pair of eyes. Credit: NASA/ESA/ESO/K. Noll

ALT The shimmering colors visible in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image show off the remarkable complexity of the Twin Jet Nebula. Lobes of material, in teal, orange and blue hues, stretch outward like elongated orbs from a central star system that shines bright white. Streams of gas jet outward from the center. Stars are visible in the background, dotting the black of space in yellow and white. Credit: NASA/ESA/Judy Schmidt

ALT Saturn's largest and second largest moons, Titan and Rhea, appear to be stacked on top of each other in this true-color scene from NASA's Cassini spacecraft. The north polar hood can be seen on Titan appearing as a detached layer at the top of the moon on the top right. This view looks toward the Saturn-facing side of Rhea (949 miles or 1528 kilometers across). North on Rhea is up and rotated 35 degrees to the right. Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this natural-color view. The images were acquired with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 16, 2011, at a distance of approximately 1.1 million miles (1.8 million kilometers) from Rhea and 1.5 million miles (2.5 million kilometers) from Titan. Image scale is 7 miles (11 kilometers) per pixel on Rhea and 9 miles (15 kilometers) on Titan. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

ALT A blue hue, present in the northern hemisphere of Saturn is seen here by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. The changing blue hue marks winter at Saturn and is likely due to reduction of ultraviolet sunlight and the haze it produces, making the atmosphere clearer and increasing the opportunity for Rayleigh scattering (scattering by molecules and smaller particles) and methane absorption. This view looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings from about 44 degrees below the ring plane. Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this natural color view. The images were taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on July 29, 2013. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

ALT KREPE-3 capsule floats inside the Northrup Grumman Cygnus XL 24 cargo spacecraft. Inside the capsule is a 3-D printed heat shield designed by researchers at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The capsule is one of 10 that will be packed inside Cygnus XL for unberthing and release from the International Space Station.Credit: NASA/Anil Menon

ALT Peering over the shoulder of giant Saturn, through its rings, and across interplanetary space, NASA's Cassini spacecraft spies the bright, cloudy terrestrial planet, Venus. The vast distance from Saturn means Venus only shows up as a white dot, just above and to the right of the image center. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute













