The Soyuz MS-06 spacecraft launches with Expedition 53 crewmembers Joe Acaba of NASA, Alexander Misurkin of Roscosmos, and Mark Vande Hei of NASA from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2017, (Kazakh time) (Sept. 12, U.S. time). http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/36381604783_fb5e8a9765_o.jpg

NASA's Cassini spacecraft gazed toward the northern hemisphere of Saturn to spy subtle, multi-hued bands in the clouds there. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/pia21888-1041.jpg

Orion’s three main orange and white parachutes help a representative model of the spacecraft descend through sky above Arizona, where NASA engineers tested the parachute system on Sept. 13, 2017, at the U.S. Army Proving Ground in Yuma. NASA is qualifying Orion’s parachutes for missions with astronauts. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/jb5_4977_1.jpg

Cassini program manager at JPL, Earl Maize, left, and spacecraft operations team manager for the Cassini mission at Saturn, Julie Webster embrace after the Cassini spacecraft plunged into Saturn, Friday, Sept. 15, 2017 at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/36403122434_f7f0ed9e41_o.jpg

This picture of a crescent-shaped Earth and Moon - the first of its kind ever taken by a spacecraft - was recorded Sept. 18, 1977, by NASA's Voyager 1 when it was 7.25 million miles (11.66 million kilometers) from Earth. The moon is at the top of the picture and beyond the Earth as viewed by Voyager. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/images/581363main_PIA00013_full.jpg

The spectacular aurora borealis, or the “northern lights,” over Canada is sighted from the International Space Station near the highest point of its orbital path. The station’s main solar arrays are seen in the left foreground. This photograph was taken by a member of the Expedition 53 crew aboard the station on Sept. 15, 2017. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/iss053e023965.jpg

The VIIRS instrument on NASA-NOAA’s Suomi NPP satellite captured a thermal image of Hurricane Maria on Sept. 20 at 2:12 a.m. EDT. The image showed very cold cloud top temperatures in the powerful thunderstorms in Maria’s eyewall. Maria’s eye was just east of the American Virgin Islands, and its northwestern quadrant stretched over Puerto Rico. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/maria.a2017263.0612.bt5_.1500m.jpg

Test Engineer Samantha O’Flaherty finalizes the set-up of the Quiet Supersonic Technology (QueSST) Preliminary Design Model inside the 14- by- 22 Foot Subsonic Tunnel at NASA Langley Research Center. The QueSST Preliminary Design is the initial design stage of NASA’s planned Low-Boom Flight Demonstration experimental airplane, or X-plane. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/14x22_1_edited.jpg

This striking image of Jupiter was captured by NASA’s Juno spacecraft as it performed its eighth flyby of the gas giant planet. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/pia21966-1041.jpg

The brightly lit limb of a crescent Enceladus looks ethereal against the blackness of space. This image is a composite of images taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on March 29, 2017, using filters that allow infrared, green, and ultraviolet light. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/pia21346-1041.jpg

A color composite image of Earth was taken on Sept. 22, 2017, by the MapCam camera on NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/ega_1ms_mapcam_color_corrected_0.png

A new iceberg calved from Pine Island Glacier—one of the main outlets where ice from the interior of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet flows into the ocean. The Operational Land Imager (OLI) on the Landsat 8 satellite captured this natural-color image on September 21, 2017, just before the break. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/pineisland_oli_2017264_lrg.jpg

This week in 1973, the second crewed Skylab mission splashed down in the Pacific Ocean following a successful 59-day mission in the orbiting laboratory. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/images/257812main_SL3-115-01837_full.jpg

This sequence of color-enhanced images shows how quickly the viewing geometry changes for NASA’s Juno spacecraft as it swoops by Jupiter. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/perijove_8_overview-opt.jpg

Stunning views like this image of Saturn's night side are only possible thanks to our robotic emissaries like Cassini. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/pia21350-1041.jpg

It's planting season on the International Space Station! http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/iss053e047067.jpg

History changed on Oct. 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The world's first artificial satellite was about the size of a beach ball, about 23 inches in diameter and weighing less than 190 pounds. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/sputnik1-mockup.jpg

Members of the National Space Council are seen during the council's first meeting on Oct. 5 at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. The council, chaired by Vice President Mike Pence heard testimony from representatives from civil space, commercial space, and national security space industry representatives. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/37488222542_f680cf2a11_o.jpg

Astronaut Randy Bresnik conducts a spacewalk on October 5. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/iss053e079404.jpg

This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaisance Orbiter (MRO) shows one possible place where sand grains are being produced on Mars today. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/pia22043.jpg