As the Sun rises at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket vents liquid oxygen propellant vapors during fueling for the lift off of NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, TDRS-M. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/35842085403_f4d65f9429_o.jpg

As the Sun rises at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket vents liquid oxygen propellant vapors during fueling for the lift off of NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, TDRS-M. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/35842085403_f4d65f9429_o.jpg

This composite image shows the progression of a partial solar eclipse over Ross Lake, in Northern Cascades National Park, Washington on Monday, Aug. 21, 2017. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/nhq201708210306.jpg

Cassini gazes across the icy rings of Saturn toward the icy moon Tethys, whose night side is illuminated by Saturnshine, or sunlight reflected by the planet. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/pia21342-1041.jpg

As millions of people across the United States experienced a total eclipse as the umbra, or moon’s shadow passed over them, only six people witnessed the umbra from space. The space station crossed the path of the eclipse three times as it orbited above the continental United States at an altitude of 250 miles. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/iss052e056122.jpg

It was spring in the Northern hemisphere when this image was taken on May 21, 2017, by the HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Over the winter, snow and ice have inexorably covered the dunes. Unlike on Earth, this snow and ice is carbon dioxide, better known to us as dry ice. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/esp_050703_2560.jpg

On August 25, 2017, NASA astronaut Jack Fischer photographed Hurricane Harvey from the cupola module aboard the International Space Station as it intensified on its way toward the Texas coast. The Expedition 52 crew on the station has been tracking this storm for the past two days and capturing Earth observation photographs and videos. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/iss052e074806.jpg

A NASA F-18 jet takes off from the agency's Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Aug. 23, 2017. The F-18 jets fly at supersonic speeds while agency researchers measure the effects of low-altitude turbulence caused by sonic booms, part of NASA's Sonic Booms in Atmospheric Turbulence, or SonicBAT II Program. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/36782365195_b7fcd1480c_o.jpg

NASA's Operation IceBridge is flying its summer Arctic land ice campaign in Greenland, continuing its measurements of the Greenland Ice Sheet and its outlet glaciers. This photograph from the mission was taken on Aug. 29, 2017, from 28,000 feet, looking north while surveying Nioghalvfjerdsbrae (79 N) Glacier in northeast Greenland. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/difhixfxgaiyjzp.jpg

NASA engineers closed a summer of successful hot fire testing Aug. 30 for flight controllers on RS-25 engines that will help power the new Space Launch System (SLS) rocket being built to carry astronauts to deep-space destinations, including Mars. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/s17-062_ssc-20170830-s00712_rs-25_engine_test.jpg

MCG+01-38-005 (below) is a special kind of megamaser; the galaxy’s active galactic nucleus pumps out huge amounts of energy, stimulating clouds of surrounding water. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/potw1735a.jpg

The Voyager 1 aboard the Titan III/Centaur lifted off on September 5, 1977, joining its sister spacecraft, the Voyager 2, on a mission to the outer planets. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/9141932-orig.jpg

Expedition 53 crew members: Joe Acaba of NASA, left, Alexander Misurkin of Roscosmos, center, and Mark Vande Hei of NASA answer questions from the press outside the Soyuz simulator ahead of their Soyuz qualification exams, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017 at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (GCTC) in Star City, Russia. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/36767193002_3e976b829d_o.jpg

The combination of morphological and topographic information from stereo images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/pia21936.jpg

This view from NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows a wave structure in Saturn's rings known as the Janus 2:1 spiral density wave. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/pia21627-1041.jpg

The NOAA-NASA satellite GOES-16 captured this geocolor image of Hurricane Irma passing the eastern end of Cuba at about 8:00 a.m. EDT, Sept. 8, 2017. Created by NOAA's partners at the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere, the experimental imagery enhancement displays geostationary satellite data in different ways for day or night. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/21457942_1775841795789423_6361884645929817029_o.jpg

With this view, Cassini captured one of its last looks at Saturn and its main rings from a distance. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/pia21345-full.jpg

Expedition 53 flight engineer Mark Vande Hei of NASA, top, flight engineer Joe Acaba of NASA, and Soyuz Commander Alexander Misurkin of Roscosmos, bottom, wave farewell before boarding their Soyuz MS-06 spacecraft for launch, Tuesday, Sept. 12. Launch is scheduled at 5:17 p.m. EDT. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/nhq201709130001.jpg

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