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, Oct. 4, 2018. Feustel, Arnold, and Artemyev spent 197 days in space where they served as members of the Expedition 55

Illustration of NASA’s Parker Solar Probe passing Venus on Oct. 3, 2018 at a distance of 1500 miles (2400 km) above the surface. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben Ken Kremer  —   SpaceUpClose.com  —   3 October 2018 KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL –  NASA’s Parker Solar Probe  completed its first flyby of the planet Venus early today, a critical maneuver that curved

Japan’s HTV-7 cargo ship is pictured shortly after being captured with the Canadarm2 robotic arm by NASA astronauts on September 27, 2018. Credit: ISS Ken Kremer  —   SpaceUpClose.com  — 3 October 2018 CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – The rapid pace of comings and goings continue at the International Space Station (ISS), following the safe arrival of an unmanned Japanese cargo ship

NASA 60th anniversary commemorative statue displayed today Oct 1, 2018 on NASA’s 60th birthday as a US Federal Agency since Oct 1, 1958 – in the world famous Rocket Garden at  the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com  Ken Kremer  —   SpaceUpClose.com  —   1 October 2018 KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL –  NASA, the most inspiriting agency of the U.S.

The final United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta II rocket that launched NASA’s ICESat-2 mission stands poised for liftoff from Space Launch Complex-2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California on Sept 15, 2018. The same configuration with four strap-on solid rocket booster will be displayed in the lineup at the famous Rocket Garden at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in

Artist’s concept of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket powered by Blue Origin BE-4 booster engine launching from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL. Credit: ULA Ken Kremer  —   SpaceUpClose.com  —   27 September 2018 CAPE CANAVERAL, FL –   Following several years of work and intense speculation rocket builder United launch Alliance (ULA) has at least made the highly anticipated selection

NASA’s Opportunity rover appears as a blip in the center of this square. This image taken on Sept. 20, 2018 by HiRISE, a high-resolution camera onboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows the dust storm over Perseverance Valley has substantially cleared. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona  Ken Kremer  —   SpaceUpClose.com  —   25 September 2018 CAPE CANAVERAL, FL –   Still silent after

These are the first images from WISPR, short for the Wide-field Imager for Parker Solar Probe taken on Sept. 9, 2018. Researchers studied the images to determine the instrument was pointed as expected, using celestial landmarks as their guide. The left image shows the Milky Way, looking at the galactic center. In the right image, there is a distinctive cluster

Legless SpaceX Falcon 9 recovered first stage is transported horizontally from Port Canaveral into Cape Canaveral Air Force Station atop multi-wheel transporter on Sept. 15, 2018, after detachment of all four landing legs utilizing square shaped ‘Booster Lift/Leg Retraction Device’ (BLLRD) apparatus bolted on top of the booster and since removed.  From Telstar 18v launch. For eventual launch recycling –

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) took this snapshot of the Large Magellanic Cloud (right) and the bright star R Doradus (left) with just a single detector of one of its cameras on Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2018. The frame is part of a swath of the southern sky TESS captured in its “first light” science image as part of its