Space Gallery

Rising Earth about five degrees above the lunar horizon

This December, 1968 NASA file image shows the rising Earth is about five degrees above the lunar horizon in this telephoto view taken from the Apollo 8 spacecraft. The horizon, about 570 kilometers (250 statute miles) from the spacecraft, is near the eastern limb of the Moon as viewed from the Earth. On the earth, the sunset terminator crosses Africa. The south pole is in the white area near the left end of the terminator. North and South America are under the clouds. The lunar surface probably has less pronounced color than indicated by this print. AFP PHOTO/NASA / AFP PHOTO / NASA / HO

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Us-Helios Prototype 2

This November, 1999 NASA file photo taken from the NASA Internet site 26 June, 2001 shows the solar-powered Helios prototype in flight over a lake bed at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in California. NASA plans to send the 15 million USD, solar-powered experimental plane into the skies over Hawaii sometime in July, achieving speeds no faster than a bicycle, powered by 14 electric motors not much stronger than hair dryers.
NASA has billed the unmanned, remotely piloted Helios as the first step toward an aircraft that will soar at 100, 000 feet -- or 20, 000 feet above the current record for a propeller-drive airplane and more than three times higher than commercial jets routinely travel. AFP PHOTO/Tom Tschida / AFP PHOTO / NASA/DFRC / TOM TSCHIDA

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Us-Space Shuttle-Columbia

This image obtained from NASA 15 November, 2001 shows the Space Shuttle Columbia launching from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in June 1992 rocketing toward a cloud bank on its twelfth flight. Twenty years ago this week, the Space Shuttle Columbia became the first reusable spaceship. Its second trip to low Earth orbit and back again began on 12 November, 1981, following its maiden voyage by only seven months. AFP PHOTO/NASA / AFP PHOTO / NASA / NASA

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