A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) spacecraft onboard is seen as it rolls out to the pad, Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022, at Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. via NASA https://ift.tt/0V2u9B7

In this photo from Dec. 15, 1965, the Gemini-VII spacecraft is seen from the Gemini-VI-A spacecraft during their rendezvous mission in space. via NASA https://ift.tt/3gVk0J7

At 12:40 p.m. EST, Dec. 11, 2022, the Orion spacecraft for the Artemis I mission splashed down in the Pacific Ocean after a 25.5-day mission to the Moon. via NASA https://ift.tt/Z5stjY0

On flight day 20 of the Artemis I mission, Dec. 5, 2022, Orion captured the Moon on the day of return powered flyby, the final major engine maneuver of the flight test. via NASA https://ift.tt/G9k5Yzy

In this illustration by Rick Giudice from August 1973, the Pioneer 10 spacecraft passes by the gas giant planet Jupiter. via NASA https://ift.tt/KMARcfH

This classic photograph of the Earth was taken on Dec. 7, 1972, by the crew of the final Apollo mission, Apollo 17, as they traveled toward the moon on their lunar landing mission. via NASA https://ift.tt/5IJld7Z

In this Dec. 1993, onboard view from Space Shuttle mission STS-61 shows astronauts Story Musgrave and Jeffrey Hoffman’s Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA) to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. via NASA https://ift.tt/4TXVDrC

On the 19th day of the Artemis I mission, Dec. 4, 2022, a camera mounted on the Orion spacecraft captured the Moon just in frame as Orion prepared for its return powered flyby on Dec. 5, when it passed approximately 79 miles above the lunar surface. via NASA https://ift.tt/ovk39VW

This whole collection is NGC 1858, an open star cluster in the northwest region of the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way that boasts an abundance of star-forming regions. NGC 1858 is estimated to be around 10 million years old. via NASA https://ift.tt/ZpOEw6W

On the sixth day of the Artemis I mission, Nov. 21, 2022, the Orion spacecraft’s optical navigation camera captured black-and-white images of craters on the Moon below. via NASA https://ift.tt/dhW5g1c