NASA has revealed its best photos of 2023 showing spectacular space technology as well as the people behind it.
Many of the photos detail the Artemis program which intends to re-establish a human presence on the Moon for the first time since 1972.
There’s mindblowing images of the Space Launch System (SLS) being assembled — the primary launch vehicle of the Artemis Moon landing program. There’s also a group shot of the four astronauts who will venture around the Moon on Artemis II as well as a recovery simulation for when they land back on Earth.
NASA research pilot Nils Larson and photographer Jim Ross complete aerobatic maneuvers in a T-34C aircraft during a proficiency flight at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. | NASA/Jim Ross
“When we fly proficiency flights, my mind is always thinking about what kind of photo I can take that will share what I am experiencing in the aircraft,” photographer Jim Ross says of the above image. “This photo was one that I feel is able to tell that story.”
Curtis Flack (left) and Paul von Hardenberg (right) inspect the ice formation on the spinner of an Advanced Air Mobility proprotor model tested in the Icing Research Tunnel. The data from the test will be used by icing researchers to better understand the risks of icing on electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles which will assist with the design and certification of new aircraft. | NASA/GRC/Jordan SalkinNaval helicopter pilots from Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 23 “Wildcards” fly over the Orion Crew Module Test Article (CMTA) with American flags after completing flight operations during an Artemis II mission simulation during NASA’s Underway Recovery Test 10 (URT-10) off the coast of San Diego. | Kenny Allen/NASAThese photos show how technicians at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans installed the second of four RS-25 engines onto the core stage for the agency’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket that will help power NASA’s first crewed Artemis mission to the Moon. | NASA/Michael DemonckerThe Soyuz rocket is launched with Expedition 70 NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub, Friday, Sept. 15, 2023, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. | Bill Ingalls/NASABehind the Scenes of a video production shoot for “What’s Behind This Door”. | NASA/JSC/Robert MarkowitzHazzaa Al Mansoori Individual EMU Photo. | Bill Stafford/NASANASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Hammock Koch, and CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen, the four astronauts who will venture around the Moon on Artemis II, the first crewed mission on NASA’s path to establishing a long-term presence at the Moon for science and exploration through Artemis.| Josh Valcarel/NASAThe CPS controls operations used by Glenn Research Center’s wind tunnels, propulsion systems lab, engine components research lab, and compressor, turbine and combustor test cells. Used widely throughout the lab, it operates equipment such as exhausters, chillers, cooling towers, compressors, dehydrators, and other such equipment. | NASA/GRC/Jef JanisNASA Glenn Research Center. | Jef Janis/NASA/GRCTechnicians at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans have installed the first of four RS-25 engines on the core stage of the agency’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket that will help power NASA’s first crewed Artemis mission to the Moon. | Michael Demoncker/NASANASA astronaut Alvin Drew poses for a photo with guests during the White House Easter Egg Roll, Monday, April 10, 2023, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington. | Keegan Barber/NASA
