The NASA InSight spacecraft launches onboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas-V rocket, Saturday, May 5, 2018, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, is a Mars lander designed to study the “inner space” of Mars: its crust, mantle, and core. via NASA https://ift.tt/2wo8P0f

NASA’s InSight spacecraft rests aboard a ULA Atlas V rocket, awaiting launch scheduled on May 5, 2018. via NASA https://ift.tt/2jsm0Uk

The lone active region visible on our Sun put on a fine display with its tangled magnetic field lines swaying and twisting above it (Apr. 24-26, 2018) when viewed in a wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light. via NASA https://ift.tt/2w8P906

“Guardian Angel” Pararescue specialists secure a covered life raft during an astronaut rescue training exercise. This exercise is part of preparation, with NASA’s commercial partners Boeing and SpaceX, to fly astronauts to and from the International Space Station aboard the Starliner and Crew Dragon spacecraft. via NASA https://ift.tt/2HHOiIZ

NASA’s InSight Mars mission will help scientists understand the processes that shaped the rocky planets of the inner solar system (including Earth) more than four billion years ago. InSight, the first planetary mission to take off from the West Coast, is targeted to launch Saturday, May 5 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. via NASA https://ift.tt/2HJbe6R

Far across the solar system, where Earth appears merely as a pale blue dot, NASA’s Galileo spacecraft spent eight years orbiting Jupiter. Newly resurrected data from Galileo’s first flyby of Jupiter’s moon Ganymede is yielding new insights. via NASA https://ift.tt/2r9ZQcZ

NASA’s Operation IceBridge successfully collected data over several glaciers, research sites, and some parallel coastal grid lines on April 26, 2018, as part of its Spring 2018 campaign. via NASA https://ift.tt/2HyjdHX

This view from above the nation of Turkey looks out across the Aegean Sea, over Greece and onto the Ionian Sea where Sicily and the boot of Italy are barely visible. The sun’s glint on the Mediterranean waters highlight the Greek islands while clouds cloak the island of Crete. via NASA https://ift.tt/2HQry97

NASA astronaut Ricky Arnold captured this clear view of Mount Rainier National Park as the International Space Station orbited above, sharing the image with his followers on April 25 to celebrate National Park Week. via NASA https://ift.tt/2JsclrI

As our nearest star, the Sun bathes Earth in a steady stream of energetic particles, magnetic fields and radiation that can stimulate our atmosphere and light up the night sky, like the aurora borealis, or northern lights. via NASA https://ift.tt/2HTEPuZ