NASA

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2026 July 11 Messier 24: Sagittarius Star Cloud Image Credit & Copyright: Chuck Ayoub Explanation: Unlike most entries in Charles Messier's famous catalog of deep sky objects, M24 is not a bright galaxy, star cluster, or nebula.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches the 17th Transporter rideshare mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Tuesday, July 7, 2026. The R5-S9 (Realizing Rapid, Reduced-cost high-Risk Research project Spacecraft 9) CubeSat, developed by NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, lifted off at 12:12 a.m. PDT Tuesday, July 7, aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California as part of the Transporter-17 rideshare mission with SpaceX.

We are in the process of migrating all NASA Earth science data sites into Earthdata from now until end of 2026. Not all NASA Earth science data and resources will appear here until then. Thank you for your patience as we make this transition. Read about the Web Unification Project In early July 2026, several wildland fires sent smoke plumes across parts of Canada's Northwest Territories.

Since its establishment, the Data Curation for Discovery (DCD) project team has strived to improve the discovery of Earth observations, collaborating closely with federal agencies to optimize access to a collection of environmental datasets. Due to the team’s proven expertise in agency engagement and data stewardship, their scope was expanded to become a Satellite Needs Working Group (SNWG) solution. Now, after 10 years of service, DCD will become part of NASA’s SNWG Implementation TEam (NSITE).

Enjoy this collection of Freedom 250 NASA aircraft images honoring the United States' 250th birthday in 2026.

Back to ECF Home Advanced Diagnostics for High-Enthalpy Test Facilities Simulating Spacecraft Atmospheric Entry Damiano Baccarella University of Tennessee, Knoxville Application of Resonance Enhanced Multi-Photon Ionization Diagnostics to the Characterization of Arcjet Flows​ Ciprian Dumitrache Colorado State University Ultrafast Laser Diagnostics for Nonequilibrium Flowfields Characterization in Atmospheric Entry Studies​ Dan Fries University of Kentucky, Lexington Multiplexed Polarization...

The TechRise Challenge is a nationwide contest inviting middle and high school students to team up with their schoolmates to design an experiment under the guidance of an educator. For the 2025-2026 challenge, more than 370 students from 52 states and territories worked to turn their proposed science and technology experiments into reality, giving them real-world, hands-on experience with the same processes that professional researchers follow.

NASA photographer Jim Ross flies above the Washington Monument in Washington on Saturday, July 4, 2026, in an F-18 aircraft, as part of a flyover to celebrate America’s 250th birthday. This aircraft is from NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, and it joined other NASA aircraft for the flyover. NASA flight photographers capture history from a perspective few ever experience, getting a rare bird’s-eye view of the agency’s missions in action.

The waxing gibbous moon is nestled in the darkness of space in this June 26, 2026, image from the International Space Station. The space station was 264 miles above the Indian Ocean southeast of Madagascar at the time. The waxing gibbous phase comes before the full moon phase. During this time, the Moon appears brighter in the night sky to viewers on Earth. Image credit: NASA

A bright orange sunburst illuminates Earth’s atmosphere during an orbital sunrise in this photograph from the International Space Station as it orbited 265 miles above western Mongolia. Vein scans and cartilage engineering wrapped up a busy week aboard the International Space Station. The Expedition 74 crew members also configured the orbital outpost for a new crew, tested new cooking gear, and conducted muscle measurements.