Spacecraft Landing Operations

Images of various spacecraft descending with parachutes, capturing their landing moments in a clear sky, evoking a sense of excitement and technological achievement.

Orion teams perform an Orion Capsule Parachute Assembly System (CPAS) drop test using the Parachute Test Vehicle (PTV) at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona on Dec. 20, 2012. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

The Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft is seen as it descends with Expedition 25 Commander Doug Wheelock and Flight Engineers Shannon Walker and Fyodor Yurchikhin near the town of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan on Friday, Nov. 26, 2010. Russian Cosmonaut Yurchikhin and NASA Astronauts Wheelock and Walker, are returning from nearly six months onboard the International Space Station where they served as members of the Expedition 24 and 25 crews.

NASA successfully tested the Orion spacecrafts parachute system on March 16, 2018 at the U.S. Army Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona. It was the first time engineers intentionally failed one of the systems three Forward Bay Cover parachutes. The Forward Bay Cover protects the upper part of Orion throughout its mission, but must be jettisoned during landing so the rest of Orions parachutes can deploy. Engineers are nearing completion of the series of tests to qualify the parachute system for flights with crew.

The Soyuz MS-07 spacecraft is seen as it lands with Expedition 55 crew members Anton Shkaplerov of Roscosmos, Scott Tingle of NASA, and Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on Sunday, June 3, 2018. Shkaplerov, Tingle, and Kanai are returning after 168 days in space where they served as members of the Expedition 54 and 55 crews onboard the International Space Station.

Orion teams perform an Orion Capsule Parachute Assembly System (CPAS) drop test using the Parachute Test Vehicle (PTV) at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona on Dec. 20, 2012. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

The Soyuz TMA-20M spacecraft is seen as it lands with Expedition 48 crew members NASA astronaut Jeff Williams, Russian cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin, and Oleg Skripochka of Roscosmos near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2016(Kazakh time). Williams, Ovchinin, and Skripochka are returning after 172 days in space where they served as members of the Expedition 47 and 48 crews onboard the International Space Station.

Orion's parachutes deploy as it returns to Earth after Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) on Dec. 5, 2014. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -The United Launch Alliance Delta II Heavy rocket propels NASAs twin Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission into the clouds over Space Launch Complex 17B on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Liftoff was at 9:08:52 a.m. EDT Sept.10. GRAIL-A will separate from the second stage of the rocket at about one hour, 21 minutes after liftoff, followed by GRAIL-B at 90 minutes after launch. The spacecraft are embarking on a three-month journey to reach the moon.GRAIL will fly twin spacecraft in tandem around the moon to precisely measure and map variations in the moon's gravitational field. The mission will provide the most accurate global gravity field to date for any planet, including Earth. This detailed information will reveal differences in the density of the moon's crust and mantle and will help answer fundamental questions about the moon's internal structure, thermal evolution, and history of collisions with asteroids. The aim is to map

A view of the NASA Space Shuttle Program Solid Rocket Booster Deceleration Subsystem, as it approaches its impact point during a parachute drop test at the National Parachute Test Range. Base: Naval Air Facility, El Centro State: California (CA) Country: United States Of America (USA)

The drogue parachute of the Soyuz MS-11 spacecraft is seen during the landing of Expedition 59 crew members Anne McClain of NASA, David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency, and Oleg Kononenko of Roscosmos near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Tuesday, June 25, 2019 Kazakh time (June 24 Eastern time). McClain, Saint-Jacques, and Kononenko are returning after 204 days in space where they served as members of the Expedition 58 and 59 crews onboard the International Space Station.

The Soyuz TMA-5 spacecraft blasts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Thursday, October 14, 2004, carrying Expedition 10 Commander Leroy Chiao, Flight Engineer and Soyuz Commander Salizhan Sharipov and Russian Space Forces cosmonaut Yuri Shargin to the International Space Station. The crew will dock to the Station on October 16, and Chiao and Sharipov will replace the current Station crew members, Gennady Padalka and Mike Fincke, who will return to Earth October 24 with Shargin.

iss070e035477 (Dec. 3, 2023) --- The Progress 86 cargo craft approaches the International Space Station's Poisk module ahead of its docking at 6:18 a.m. EST.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The United Launch Alliance Delta II Heavy rocket propels NASAs twin Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission into the clouds over Space Launch Complex 17B on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The spacecraft launched at 9:08:52 a.m. EDT Sept. 10. GRAIL-A will separate from the second stage of the rocket at about one hour, 21 minutes after liftoff, followed by GRAIL-B at 90 minutes after launch. The spacecraft are embarking on a three-month journey to reach the moon.GRAIL will fly twin spacecraft in tandem around the moon to precisely measure and map variations in the moon's gravitational field. The mission will provide the most accurate global gravity field to date for any planet, including Earth. This detailed information will reveal differences in the density of the moon's crust and mantle and will help answer fundamental questions about the moon's internal structure, thermal evolution, and history of collisions with asteroids. The

NASA has completes the final test to qualify Orions parachute system for flights with astronauts, checking off an important milestone on the path to send humans on missions to the Moon and beyond on Sept. 12, 2018...Over the course of eight tests at the U.S. Armys Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona, engineers have evaluated the performance of Orions parachute system during normal landing sequences as well as several failure scenarios and a variety of potential aerodynamic conditions to ensure astronauts can return safely from deep space missions.

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander parachuted for nearly three minutes as it descended through the Martian atmosphere on May 25, 2008. Extensive preparations for that crucial period included this drop test near Boise, Idaho, in October 2006.

Expedition 69 Soyuz Landing. The Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft is seen as it lands in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan with Expedition 69 NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, Roscosmos cosmonauts Dmitri Petelin and Sergey Prokopyev, Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023. The trio are returning to Earth after logging 371 days in space as members of Expeditions 68-69 aboard the International Space Station. For Rubio, his mission is the longest single spaceflight by a U.S. astronaut in history. Photo Credit (NASA/GCTC/Pavel Shvets)

Orion's parachutes deploy as it returns to Earth after Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) on Dec. 5, 2014. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

In order to make sure weather conditions are acceptable at multiple altitudes, NASA meteorologists on the ground conduct constant monitoring operations, and launch weather balloons to get accurate data for aircraft and pilot.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory travels through thin upper-level clouds over Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station to deliver its payload to orbit. Liftoff was at 10 23 a.m. EST Feb. 11. This is the 100th launch of a commercial Atlas_Centaur rocket. The observatory, known as SDO, is the first mission in NASA's Living With a Star Program and is designed to study the causes of solar variability and its impacts on Earth. The spacecraft's long-term measurements will give solar scientists in-depth information to help characterize the interior of the Sun, the Sun's magnetic field, the hot plasma of the solar corona, and the density of radiation that creates the ionosphere of the planets. The information will be used to create better forecasts of space weather needed to protect the aircraft, satellites and astronauts living and working in space.

ISS033-E-005166 (16 Sept. 2012) --- The Soyuz TMA-04M spacecraft departs from the International Space Station and heads toward a landing in a remote area outside of the town of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, on Sept. 17, 2012 (Kazakhstan time). Expedition 32 Commander Gennady Padalka of Russia, NASA Flight Engineer Joe Acaba and Russian Flight Engineer Sergei Revin are returning from five months onboard the International Space Station where they served as members of the Expedition 31 and 32 crews.

Boeings CST-100 Starliner spacecraft lands at White Sands Missile Ranges Space Harbor, Wednesday, May 25, 2022, in New Mexico. Boeings Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) is Starliners second uncrewed flight test to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. OFT-2 serves as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities.

Orion's parachutes deploy as it returns to Earth after Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) on Dec. 5, 2014. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

Engineers successfully evaluated a failure scenario of Orions parachute system in which only two of the systems three orange and white main parachutes deploy after several other parachutes in the system used to slow and stabilize Orion endure high aerodynamic stresses ahead of a safe landing. The test occurred Dec. 15, 2017 at the U.S. Army Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona. A mock capsule was dropped from a C-17 aircraft at 35,000 feet in altitude to enable the right conditions for the test. It was the fifth of eight tests to qualify Orions parachute system for flights with astronauts beginning with Artemis II.

Orion's parachutes deploy as it returns to Earth after Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) on Dec. 5, 2014. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

The Soyuz TMA-11M spacecraft is seen as it lands with Expedition 39 Commander Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin of Roscosmos, and Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio of NASA near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on Wednesday, May 14, 2014. Wakata, Tyurin and Mastracchio returned to Earth after more than six months onboard the International Space Station where they served as members of the Expedition 38 and 39 crews.

The Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft is seen as it lands with Expedition 28 Commander Andrey Borisenko, and Flight Engineers Ron Garan, and Alexander Samokutyaev in a remote area outside of the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, on Friday, Sept. 16, 2011. NASA Astronaut Garan, Russian Cosmonauts Borisenko and Samokutyaev are returning from more than five months onboard the International Space Station where they served as members of the Expedition 27 and 28 crews.

Contrail from rocket launch, Space Coast, Florida

The Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft is seen as it lands in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan with Expedition 61 crew members Christina Koch of NASA, Alexander Skvortsov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, and Luca Parmitano of ESA (European Space Agency) Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020. Koch returned to Earth after logging 328 days in space --- the longest spaceflight in history by a woman --- as a member of Expeditions 59-60-61 on the International Space Station. Skvortsov and Parmitano returned after 201 days in space where they served as Expedition 60-61 crew members onboard the station.

A view of the NASA Space Shuttle Program Solid Rocket Booster Deceleration Subsystem, as it approaches its impact point during a parachute drop test at the National Parachute Test Range. Base: Naval Air Facility, El Centro State: California (CA) Country: United States Of America (USA)

The Soyuz MS-08 spacecraft is seen as it lands with Expedition 56 Commander Drew Feustel and Flight Engineer Ricky Arnold of NASA, along with Flight Engineer and Soyuz Commander Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on Thursday, Oct. 4, 2018. Feustel, Arnold, and Artemyev are returning after 197 days in space where they served as members of the Expedition 55 and 56 crews onboard the International Space Station.

Orion Splashdown. At 12:40 p.m. EST, Dec. 11, 2022, NASAs Orion spacecraft for the Artemis I mission splashed down in the Pacific Ocean after a 25.5 day mission to the Moon. Orion will be recovered by NASAs Landing and Recovery team, U.S. Navy and Department of Defense partners aboard the USS Portland.

The Soyuz TMA-11M spacecraft is seen as it lands with Expedition 39 Commander Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin of Roscosmos, and Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio of NASA near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on Wednesday, May 14, 2014. Wakata, Tyurin and Mastracchio returned to Earth after more than six months onboard the International Space Station where they served as members of the Expedition 38 and 39 crews.

The Soyuz TMA-14 spacecraft is seen as it lands with Expedition 20 Commander Gennady Padalka, Flight Engineer Michael Barratt, and spaceflight participant Guy Laliberté near the town of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan on Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009. Padalka and Barratt are returning from six months onboard the International Space Station, along with Laliberté who arrived at the station on Oct. 2 with Expedition 21 Flight Engineers Jeff Williams and Maxim Suraev aboard the Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft.

Orions three main orange and white parachutes help a representative model of the spacecraft descend through sky above Arizona, where NASA engineers tested the parachute system on Sept. 13, 2017 at the U.S. Army Proving Ground in Yuma. NASA is qualifying Orions parachutes for missions with astronauts.. .During this test, engineers replicated a situation in which Orion must abort off the Space Launch System rocket and bypasses part of its normal parachute deployment sequence that typically helps the spacecraft slow down during its descent to Earth after deep space missions. The capsule was dropped out of a C-17 aircraft at more than 4.7 miles in altitude and allowed to free fall for 20 seconds, longer than ever before, to produce high aerodynamic pressure before only its pilot and main parachutes were deployed, testing whether they could perform as expected under extreme loads. Orions full parachute system includes 11 total parachutes -- three forward bay cover parachutes and two drogue

The Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft is seen as it lands with Expedition 27 Commander Dmitry Kondratyev and Flight Engineers Paolo Nespoli and Cady Coleman in a remote area southeast of the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, on Tuesday, May 24, 2011. NASA Astronaut Coleman, Russian Cosmonaut Kondratyev and Italian Astronaut Nespoli are returning from more than five months onboard the International Space Station where they served as members of the Expedition 26 and 27 crews.

NASAs SpaceX Crew-4 Splashdown. The SpaceX Crew Dragon Freedom spacecraft is seen as it lands with NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Robert Hines, Jessica Watkins, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti aboard in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, Friday, Oct. 14, 2022. Lindgren, Hines, Watkins, and Cristoforetti are returning after 170 days in space as part of Expeditions 67 and 68 aboard the International Space Station.

The Soyuz TMA-04M rocket boosters are seen being jettisoned during the launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Tuesday, May 15, 2012. Expedition 31 Soyuz Commander Gennady Padalka, NASA Flight Engineer Joseph Acaba and Flight Engineer Sergei Revin were launched to the International Space Station at 9:01am Kazakhstan time.

An Orion parachute development test takes place at U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona, on April 17, 2012. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

Orion's parachutes deploy as it returns to Earth after Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) on Dec. 5, 2014. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

The Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft is seen in this long exposure photograph as it launched with Expedition 57 Flight Engineer Nick Hague of NASA and Flight Engineer Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. During the Soyuz spacecraft's climb to orbit, an anomaly occurred, resulting in an abort downrange. The crew was quickly recovered and is in good condition.

The Soyuz rocket is launched with Expedition 57 Flight Engineer Nick Hague of NASA and Flight Engineer Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Hague and Ovchinin will spend the next six months living and working aboard the International Space Station.

Orion's main parachutes begin to unfurl as it returns to Earth during Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) on Dec. 5, 2014. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

Engineers successfully evaluated a failure scenario of Orions parachute system in which only two of the systems three orange and white main parachutes deploy after several other parachutes in the system used to slow and stabilize Orion endure high aerodynamic stresses ahead of a safe landing. The test occurred Dec. 15, 2017 at the U.S. Army Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona. A mock capsule was dropped from a C-17 aircraft at 35,000 feet in altitude to enable the right conditions for the test. It was the fifth of eight tests to qualify Orions parachute system for flights with astronauts beginning with Artemis II.

NASA successfully tested the Orion spacecrafts parachute system on March 16, 2018 at the U.S. Army Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona. It was the first time engineers intentionally failed one of the systems three Forward Bay Cover parachutes. The Forward Bay Cover protects the upper part of Orion throughout its mission, but must be jettisoned during landing so the rest of Orions parachutes can deploy. Engineers are nearing completion of the series of tests to qualify the parachute system for flights with crew.

ISS047e22133 (03/27/2016) ---The crew of Expedition 47 aboard the International Space Station captured this image of a massive iceberg causing shipping to pay close attention. It is floating in the southern Atlantic Ocean, near the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands. Smaller pieces cluster around the main iceberg. causing further shipping concern. The closest continent is the bottom tip of South America (Argentina) and the Falkland Islands.

The Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft is seen as it lands with Expedition 28 Commander Andrey Borisenko, and Flight Engineers Ron Garan, and Alexander Samokutyaev in a remote area outside of the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, on Friday, Sept. 16, 2011. NASA Astronaut Garan, Russian Cosmonauts Borisenko and Samokutyaev are returning from more than five months onboard the International Space Station where they served as members of the Expedition 27 and 28 crews.

Steam cloud & moon above the Bugey Nuclear Power Station

STS059-S-066 (9 April 1994) --- The liftoff of the Space Shuttle Endeavour is backdropped against clouds at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) as six NASA astronauts head for a week and a half in Earth orbit. Liftoff occurred at 7 05 a.m. (EDT), April 9, 1994. The air-to-air view was photographed from the Shuttle Training Aircraft (STA) piloted by astronaut Robert L. Gibson. Onboard for the Space Radar Laboratory (SRL-1) mission were astronauts Sidney M. Gutierrez, Kevin P. Chilton, Jerome (Jay) Apt, Linda M. Godwin, Michael (Rich) Clifford and Thomas D. Jones.

NASA successfully tested the Orion spacecrafts parachute system on March 16, 2018 at the U.S. Army Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona. It was the first time engineers intentionally failed one of the systems three Forward Bay Cover parachutes. The Forward Bay Cover protects the upper part of Orion throughout its mission, but must be jettisoned during landing so the rest of Orions parachutes can deploy. Engineers are nearing completion of the series of tests to qualify the parachute system for flights with crew.

ISS027-E-032636 (18 May 2011) --- One of the Expedition 27 crew members aboard the International Space Station (ISS) recorded this image of the space shuttle Endeavour as the two spacecraft made their relative approach on May 18, 2011. Each spacecraft was occupied by six crew members until the STS-134 astronauts entered the ISS minutes following the docking.

jsc2020e017061 - Expedition 63 Launch - The Soyuz MS-16 lifts off from Site 31 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Thursday, April 9, 2020 sending Expedition 63 crewmembers Chris Cassidy of NASA and Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner of Roscosmos into orbit for a six-hour flight to the International Space Station and the start of a six-and-a-half month mission.

The Gulf of Mexico as seen from NASA photographer Carla Thomas at high altitude in the F/A-18 research aircraft during a flight in support of the Quiet Supersonic Flights 2018 series, or QSF18. The high altitude is necessary as part of the quiet supersonic dive maneuver, climbing to around 50,000 feet, followed by a supersonic, inverted dive. This creates sonic boom shockwaves in a way that they are quieter in a specific area.

The first X-43A hypersonic research aircraft and its modified Pegasus booster rocket were carried aloft by NASA's NB-52B carrier aircraft from Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., on June 2, 2001 for the first of three high-speed free flight attempts. About an hour and 15 minutes later the Pegasus booster was released from the B-52 to accelerate the X-43A to its intended speed of Mach 7. Before this could be achieved, the combined Pegasus and X-43A "stack" lost control about eight seconds after ignition of the Pegasus rocket motor. The mission was terminated and explosive charges ensured the Pegasus and X-43A fell into the Pacific Ocean in a cleared Navy range area. A NASA investigation board is being assembled to determine the cause of the incident. Work continues on two other X-43A vehicles, the first of which could fly by late 2001. Central to the X-43A program is its integration of an air-breathing "scramjet" engine that could enable a variety of high-sp

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- With NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) spacecraft sealed inside its payload fairing, the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket rides a plume of flames as it continues its assent into the blue sky over Space Launch Complex-41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 10:02 a.m. EST Nov. 26.MSL's components include a car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Thin upper-level clouds do not obstruct the view of the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory as it travels to orbit. Liftoff from Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station was at 10 23 a.m. EST Feb. 11. This is the 100th launch of a commercial Atlas_Centaur rocket. The observatory, known as SDO, is the first mission in NASA's Living With a Star Program and is designed to study the causes of solar variability and its impacts on Earth. The spacecraft's long-term measurements will give solar scientists in-depth information to help characterize the interior of the Sun, the Sun's magnetic field, the hot plasma of the solar corona, and the density of radiation that creates the ionosphere of the planets. The information will be used to create better forecasts of space weather needed to protect the aircraft, satellites and astronauts living and working in space.

nhq201704100009 (April 10, 2017) --- The Soyuz MS-02 spacecraft is seen as it lands with Expedition 50 Commander Shane Kimbrough of NASA and Flight Engineers Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko of Roscosmos near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on Monday, April 10, 2017 (Kazakh time). Kimbrough, Ryzhikov, and Borisenko are returning after 173 days in space where they served as members of the Expedition 49 and 50 crews onboard the International Space Station.

. A weather balloon is launched to collect wind data for the Advanced Exploration of Reliable Operation at Low Altitudes: Meteorology, Simulation and Technology campaign. The weather study was at NASAs Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. The focus was to study wind from the ground to 2,000 feet to provide data to assist future drones to safely land on rooftop hubs called vertiports and to potentially improve weather prediction.

ISS022-E-069727 (19 Feb. 2010) --- The space shuttle Endeavour is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 22 crew member on the International Space Station soon after the shuttle and station began their post-undocking relative separation. Undocking of the two spacecraft occurred at 7:54 p.m. (EST) on Feb. 19, 2010.

a WATER STREAMING INTO BLUE SKY FROM A WATER PRESSURE DEVICE

STS041-601-009 (6 Oct 1990) --- The Ulysses spacecraft, backdropped against the blackness of space, rapidly distances itself from Discovery and moves toward the beginning of its five-year mission to the Sun. The five STS-41 astronauts released the spacecraft only hours after achieving Earth orbit on Oct. 6, 1990. The photo was made with a handheld Roliflex camera using 120 film.

Orion teams perform an Orion Capsule Parachute Assembly System (CPAS) drop test using the Parachute Test Vehicle (PTV) at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona on Dec. 20, 2012. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

Vapour trails

Ares I-X -- First Flight of a New Moon Rocket Has Possible Stage Separation Anomaly

The Orion team performed the first of a series of parachute development tests at U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona, on Sept. 27, 2011. The photo shows the test article after it landed on the desert floor and the parachutes have been removed. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

Earth Observations taken by Expedition 34 crewmember.

iss051e044839 (5/17/2017) -- The NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer "ejects" the Spacecraft for High Accuracy Radar Calibrationa (SHARC) microsatellite into orbit from the International Space Station.

The Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft is seen as it lands with Expedition 27 Commander Dmitry Kondratyev and Flight Engineers Paolo Nespoli and Cady Coleman in a remote area southeast of the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, on Tuesday, May 24, 2011. NASA Astronaut Coleman, Russian Cosmonaut Kondratyev and Italian Astronaut Nespoli are returning from more than five months onboard the International Space Station where they served as members of the Expedition 26 and 27 crews.

Apollo 12 Command Module, with astronauts Charles Conrad Jr., Richard F. Gordon Jr., and Alan L. Bean aboard, nearing splashdown in Pacific Ocean to conclude second lunar landing mission, NASA, November 24, 1969

ISS032-E-010005 (27 July 2012) --- The unpiloted Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV-3) approaches the International Space Station. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launched HTV-3 aboard an H-IIB launch vehicle from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan at 10:06 p.m. EDT July 20 (11:06 a.m. July 21, Japan time). The HTV is bringing 7,000 pounds of cargo including food and clothing for the crew members, an aquatic habitat experiment, a remote-controlled Earth-observation camera for environmental studies, a catalytic reactor for the stations water regeneration system and a Japanese cooling water recirculation pump. The vehicle will remain at the space station until Sept. 6 when, like its predecessors, it will be detached from the Harmony node by Canadarm2 and released for a fiery re-entry over the Pacific Ocean.

ISS023-E-051367 (23 May 2010) --- Space shuttle Atlantis is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 23 crew member on the International Space Station soon after the shuttle and station began their post-undocking relative separation. Undocking of the two spacecraft occurred at 10:22 a.m. (CDT) on May 23, 2010, ending a seven-day stay that saw the addition of a new station module, replacement of batteries and resupply of the orbiting outpost. A portion of the newly-attached Rassvet Mini-Research Module 1 (MRM1) is at top.

ISS034-E-005022 (18 Nov. 2012) --- The Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft departs from the International Space Station and heads toward a landing in a remote area outside the town of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan on Nov. 19, 2012 (Kazakhstan time). NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, Expedition 33 commander; Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, Soyuz commander and flight engineer; and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Aki Hoshide, flight engineer, are returning from four months onboard the space station where they served as members of the Expedition 32 and 33 crews.

A Soyuz booster rocket launches the Soyuz MS-11 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Monday, Dec. 3, 2018, Baikonur time, carrying Expedition 58 Soyuz Commander Oleg Kononenko of Roscosmos, Flight Engineer Anne McClain of NASA, and Flight Engineer David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) into orbit to begin their six and a half month mission on the International Space Station.

After eight months of designing, building and testing, the middle school, high school and college and university teams launched their rockets as part of NASA Student Launch on Sunday, April 8. The rockets and their payloads are designed to fly to 1-mile in altitude before deploying recovery systems that brings them safely to the ground.

Ares I-X -- First Flight of a New Moon Rocket Has Possible Stage Separation Anomaly

Members of the Balloon Research and Development Test Branch, Air Force Geophysics Laboratory, prepare to release a helium-filled balloon as dawn breaks. Base: Tularosa Basin State: New Mexico (NM) Country: United States Of America (USA)

The Soyuz TMA-19M spacecraft is seen as it lands with Expedition 47 crew members Tim Kopra of NASA, Tim Peake of the European Space Agency, and Yuri Malenchenko of Roscosmos near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on Saturday, June 18, 2016. Kopra, Peake, and Malenchenko are returning after six months in space where they served as members of the Expedition 46 and 47 crews onboard the International Space Station.

iss070e022097 (Nov. 11, 2023) --- The SpaceX Dragon cargo craft, on the company's 29th commercial resupply mission for NASA, approaches the International Space Station while orbiting 261 miles above the Lesser Sunda Islands.

The Soyuz TMA-14M spacecraft is seen as it lands with Expedition 42 commander Barry Wilmore of NASA, Alexander Samokutyaev of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and Elena Serova of Roscosmos near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on Thursday, March 12, 2015. NASA Astronaut Wilmore, Russian Cosmonauts Samokutyaev and Serova are returning after almost six months onboard the International Space Station where they served as members of the Expedition 41 and 42 crews.

Loop formation

The Northrop Grumman Antares rocket, with Cygnus resupply spacecraft onboard, launches from Pad-0A of NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, Saturday, November 2, 2019, in Virginia. Northrop Grummans 12th contracted cargo resupply mission with NASA to the International Space Station will deliver about 8,200 pounds of science and research, crew supplies and vehicle hardware to the orbital laboratory and its crew.

The Soyuz TMA-10M spacecraft departs after undocking from the ISS during Expedition 39. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter.

01/14/2014. Takeoff and Explosion of the Challenger Sts-51l 01/28/1986 Archdc.

Take off - launching rocket, portrait format

The Soyuz TMA-11M spacecraft is seen as it lands with Expedition 39 Commander Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin of Roscosmos, and Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio of NASA near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on Wednesday, May 14, 2014. Wakata, Tyurin and Mastracchio returned to Earth after more than six months onboard the International Space Station where they served as members of the Expedition 38 and 39 crews.

Smoke Plume of Atlantis on STS-98

The X-38 Crew Return Vehicle descends under its steerable parafoil over the California desert in its first free flight at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The flight took place March 12, 1998.

iss064e055955 (April 9, 2021) --- The Soyuz MS-18 crew ship, with three Expedition 65 crew members aboard, approaches the International Space Station 265 miles above Kazakhstan. NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, riding alongside Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov, would dock to the Rassvet module just three hours and 23 minutes after launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

black and white negative: KODAK T-MAX 100 Professional. SBA settings neutral SBA on, color SBA on

Orion teams perform an Orion Capsule Parachute Assembly System (CPAS) drop test using the Parachute Test Vehicle (PTV) at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona on Dec. 20, 2012. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

Telescope enclosure at the McDonald Observatory, Fort Davis, Texas, USA

One of the Spacewedge remotely-piloted research vehicles in flight under a steerable parafoil during 1995 research flights conducted by NASAs Dryden Flight Research Center.

While NASAs F/A-18 goes supersonic off the coast, a team of researchers monitor the flight and operate multiple sound monitor stations around Galveston and its surrounding area. This allows NASA to obtain accurate sound level data, which gets matched to community response data.

ISS040-E-125332 (4 Sept. 2014) --- Palm Jumeirah, protruding off the Persian Gulf Coast of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, is featured in this 800mm photograph, taken by one of the Expedition 40 crew members aboard the International Space Station. The municipality of Dubai is the largest city of the Persian Gulf emirate of the same name, and has built a global reputation for large-scale developments and architectural works. Among the most visible of these developments particularly from the perspective of crew members onboard the space station are three man-made archipelagos. The two Palm Islands (Palm Jumeirah and Palm Jebel Ali, which is not in this frame) appear as stylized palm trees when viewed from above. The World Islands evoke a rough map of the world from an air- or space-borne perspective. A very small part of the World Islands is seen in upper left corner.

NASA test pilots perform the quiet supersonic dive maneuver off the coast of Galveston, Texas to create a quieter version of the sonic boom, in order to obtain recruited community survey feedback data. The test pilot climbs to around 50,000 feet, followed by a supersonic, inverted dive. This creates sonic boom shockwaves in a way that they are quieter in a specific area. Meanwhile, NASA researchers match community feedback to the sound levels of the flights, using an electronic survey and microphone monitor stations on the ground. This is preparing NASA for community response models for the future X-59 QueSST.

1990s THUNDERBIRDS USAF DEMONSTRATION SQUADRON FLYING DIAMOND FORMATION LEAVING WHITE SMOKE TRAILS AGAINST BRIGHT BLUE SKY

Launched on July 26, 2005 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, STS-114 was classified as Logistics Flight 1. Among the Station-related activities of the mission were the delivery of new supplies and the replacement of one of the orbital outpost's Control Moment Gyroscopes (CMGs). STS-114 also carried the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module and the External Stowage Platform-2. A major focus of the mission was the testing and evaluation of new Space Shuttle flight safety, which included new inspection and repair techniques. Upon its approach to the International Space Station (ISS), the Space Shuttle Discovery underwent a photography session in order to assess any damages that may have occurred during its launch and/or journey through Space. Discovery was over Switzerland, about 600 feet from the ISS, when Cosmonaut Sergei K. Kriklev, Expedition 11 Commander, and John L. Phillips, NASA Space Station officer and flight engineer photographed the spacecraft as it performed a back

2017 Student Launch activities at the Bragg Farm in Toney, Alabama

One of Larry Foster's rockets decents on its parachute. It clearly has sustained damage at one end, most likely a problem with the engine.

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