NASA has been at the forefront of space exploration for years. It was founded in 1958 by President Dwight Eisenhower with the mission of encouraging civilian missions in space. Since then, NASA has led most of the world’s most significant space programs including Apollo, Skylab, and the Space Shuttle. Today, it is working on new systems to get astronauts to Mars and beyond. Over the course of the last several decades, however, it has made history more than once. First there was the space race that culminated with the moon landing, then there were the amazing photographs that the Hubble Telescope took of deep space. Nasa has always been at the forefront of space exploration and fortunately for us, at every bend in the road there has been somebody holding a camera. The pictures in this list include everything from stars and constellations to moon landings and mars rovers. While some of the pictures may be a bit fuzzy or even black and white, it’s not the picture itself that is so amazing (although some are definitely amazing), it is the idea behind the picture. Time and time again, NASA continues to outdo itself and these are the 25 Powerful NASA Images To Feed Your Inner Astronaut.
If you want to know a little bit more about NASA, check out our list of 25 Fun Facts About NASA You Might Not Know.
The space shuttle being flown to Florida after landing in California (1998)
Source and Image: NASA
Sally Ride, the first American woman in space (1983)
Source and Image: NASA
Bruce McCandless II ventures more than 300 feet away from the shuttle using a jet powered pack. This was the first untethered spacewalk (1984)
Source and Image: NASA
The Hubble Ultra Deep Field records the deepest and most sensitive image every taken of the night sky in visible wavelengths. The image took roughly 400 orbits to produce and shows more than 10,000 galaxies (2004)
Source and Image: NASA
The destruction of the Challenger only 73 seconds after takeoff has become a symbol of American resilience (1986)
Source and Image: NASA
Ed White becomes the first American to walk in space during the Gemini 4 mission (1965)
Source and Image: NASA
Buzz Aldrin photographs his footprint on the moon (1969)
Source and Image: NASA
Thirteen days after setting out towards Jupiter, Voyager 1 took the first long distance photo of the Earth and moon together (1977)
Source and Image: NASA
President Nixon greets the crew of Apollo 11 upon their return to Earth while they are in quarantine aboard a recovery ship (1969)
Source and Image: NASA
The “Mercury seven” were NASA’s first astronauts (1971)
Source and Image: NASA
The first up close image of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, taken by the Voyager mission (1979)
Source and Image: NASA
The first television picture of the Earth taken by TIROS 1, the first weather satellite (1960)
Source and Image: NASA
Viking 2 photographs a pink Martian sky, owing to the dust hanging in the atmosphere (1976)
Source and Image: NASA
The Columbia becomes the first Space Shuttle to lift off (1981)
Source and Image: NASA
10 months after Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth (1962)
Source and Image: NASA
Viking 1 takes the first photo of Mars 7 years to the day after Neil Armstrong walked on the moon (1976)
Source and Image: NASA
The Cosmic Background Explorer records radiation left over from the Big Bang (1992)
Source and Image: NASA
The liftoff of Apollo 11 on its way to the moon (1969)
Source and Image: NASA
The Pillars of Creation, an area with lots of star birth located in the Eagle Nebula. This color enhanced photo has become one of the Hubble Telescopes most famous (1995)
Source and Image: NASA
Earthrise taken by Apollo 8 (1968)
Source and Image: NASA
President Kennedy calls for a moon landing before the end of the decade (1961)
Source and Image: NASA
The International Space Station, the largest object ever flown in space (2008)
Source and Image: NASA
Repairing the Hubble Telescope (1993)
Source and Image: NASA
Voyager 1 photographs a volcanic eruption on Jupiter’s moon, Io. It was the first volcanic eruption seen beyond the Earth (1979)
Source and Image: NASA
Buzz Aldrin on the moon with Neil Armstrong reflected in his visor. This image has become one of NASA’s most iconic. In fact, many astronaut depictions since then have been shown with the bent arm (1969)
Source and Image: NASA
