In this image, NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover waits to be lifted onto its Atlas V launch vehicle at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on July 7, 2020. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/pia23984-16.jpg

The crew snapped this starry nighttime shot of Rio de Janeiro and surrounding cities on the Brazilian coast, as the International Space Station orbited above São Paolo. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/iss063e039001.jpg

On July 17, 1975, something momentous happened: two Cold War-rivals met in space. When their respective spacecraft rendezvoused and docked, a new era of cooperative ventures in space began. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/images/260346main_astp_hatch_full_full.jpg

At 9:32 a.m. EDT on July 16, 1969, the Apollo 11 mission launched via a Saturn V rocket on a mission to the Moon. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/apollo_11_launch_-_gpn-2000-000630_1.jpg

On July 21, 1969, command and service module pilot Michael Collins photographed this close-up view of the docking target on the Apollo 11 Lunar Module from the Command Module. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/as11-36-5365.jpg

NASA is developing technologies to send humans to the Red Planet. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/2-heat_shield.jpg

Comet NEOWISE streaked across the sky above the tree line of Lone Pine Lake, located on the Mount Whitney Trail in the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/afrc2020-0073-1.jpg

This image, taken on July 24, 1969, shows the Apollo 11 command codule and the Mobile Quarantine Facility (MQF) are photographed aboard the USS Hornet http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/s69-40758.jpg

Carried by a balloon the size of a football stadium, ASTHROS will use a telescope to observe wavelengths of light that aren't visible from the ground. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/high-altitude-balloon-1041.jpg

This image of Jezero Crater, the landing site for the Mars Perseverance Rover, was taken by instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/jezerocrater.jpg

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover onboard is seen as it is rolled out of the Vertical Integration Facility to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/50163611512_570c85f8a7_k.jpg

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover onboard is seen illuminated by spotlights on the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/50164230653_d9cf74d82d_k_0.jpg

The engines fired as a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover onboard launched from Space Launch Complex 41, Thursday, July 30, 2020. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/50170171651_23d59dc5e1_k.jpg

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover onboard launches from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Thursday, July 30, 2020. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/50169613626_c78b8060d6_k.jpg

Astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken of NASA's Commercial Crew Program are aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon as it approaches the International Space Station. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/49960375231_8692adf2b8_k.jpg

NASA astronauts Robert Behnken, left, and Douglas Hurley are seen inside the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft onboard the SpaceX GO Navigator recovery ship shortly after having landed in the Gulf of Mexico. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/50182385066_d1ff8f191c_k.jpg

Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley are aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft as it is lifted onto the SpaceX GO Navigator recovery ship shortly after landing. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/50182062843_ecd7170c8e_k.jpg

For decades, astronomers have known about irregular outbursts from the double star system V745 Sco, which is located about 25,000 light years from Earth. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/v745sco3d.jpg

NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover touched down eight years ago, on Aug. 5, 2012, and will soon be joined by a second rover, Perseverance. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/pia22486-main.jpg

This long-exposure photograph captures a starry sky above the Earth's atmospheric glow. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/iss063e065220.jpg