spacettf:

Rocky Mountains/Great Plains at Night (NASA, International Space Station, 10/16/11) by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center on Flickr.

Via Flickr:

This is one of a series of night time images photographed by the Expedition 29 crew from the International Space Station. It features Rocky Mountains, Denver-Colorado Springs (center-right), Santa Fe-Albuquerque (low-center-right), US Great Plains cities: Dallas-Oklahoma City, Kansas City and Chicago.

Image credit: NASA

(via neighborhoodr-denver)

lookhigh:

Ghost moon

From a vantage point about 360 km (225 miles) over the Earth, Space Station crewmembers photographed the crescent moon through the upper layers of Earth’s atmosphere. At the bottom of the image, a closed deck of clouds is probably at about 6 km (3 miles). The shades of blue grading to black are caused by the scatter of light as it strikes gas molecules of the very low density upper atmosphere.

(2003 photo via NASA)

HT: Public Domain Images Online

(via npr)

Where is the highest mountain?

It’s on mars. The super-giant volcano called Olympus Mons (Latin for mount Olympus) is the largest single mountain in the solar system and, at the moment, the know universe. At 14 miles (22 km) high and 388 miles (624 km) across, it is almost three times as high as mount Everest, and so wide it’s base would cover Arizona, or the whole of Britain. The crater is easily large enough to swallow London. However Olympos mons doesn’t conform to people’s idea of a mountain; its sides are so slightly inclined, you wouldn’t even break a sweat if you climbed it.

via

What an Astronaut’s Camera Sees (by SpaceRip)

Healthy perspective for sure. (via Perspective: Astronauts Have It [PIC])

laughingsquid:

Photo of Space Shuttle Endeavour’s Final Launch Taken From Airline Window

ilovecharts:

Fun Facts About the Space Shuttle Orbiters

via Alec Denton

A real time recreation of Russian astronaut Yuri Gagarin’s first orbit of earth in 1961. The video features new footage that shows what Yuri would have seen as he ventured through space, paired with the original mission audio and musical score, makes for a breathtaking tour of the Blue Planet. (via First Orbit on Devour.com)