Portal:Spaceflight/Selected picture

This is the selected picture subpage of the Spaceflight Portal.

Usage

The layout used to format these sub-pages is at Portal:Spaceflight/Selected picture/Layout

1. Add a new selected article to the next available subpage.
2. Update "max=" to new total for its {{Random portal component}} on the main page.

Selected picture 1

Portal:Spaceflight/Selected picture/1

Space Shuttle Columbia before her maiden flight, STS-1

A timed exposure of Space Shuttle Columbia on launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in preparation for her maiden flight, STS-1. To the left of the Shuttle are the fixed and the rotating service structures.

Selected picture 2

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The Lunar Module of the Apollo 16 on the lunar surface.

The Lunar Module of the Apollo 16 on the lunar surface.

Selected picture 3

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HTV-1 arriving at the International Space Station.

A close-up view of the unpiloted Japanese HTV-1, the first H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV), in the grasp of the International Space Station's robotic Canadarm2. The crew of Expedition 20 used the station's robotic arm to grab the cargo craft and attach it to the Earth-facing port of the Harmony node.

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The launch of Voyager 2, August 20, 1977

Voyager 2 was launched on August 20, 1977, atop a Titan IIIE rocket with a Centaur third stage, and a further Star-37 upper stage. Although launched 16 days before Voyager 1, Voyager 2 was placed on a less-direct path to Jupiter and Saturn, which would enable it to also visit Uranus and Neptune, thus completing the Planetary Grand Tour.

Selected picture 5

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Hubble Space Telescope

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) as seen from the departing Space Shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-125. The HST was launched April 1990 aboard Space Shuttle Discovery. The photo was taken in May 2009.

Selected picture 6

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Buzz Aldrin's bootprint on the Moon.

Buzz Aldrin's bootprint on the lunar surface during Apollo 11.

Selected picture 7

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Image of the Pioneer plaque

NASA image of Pioneer 10's famed Pioneer plaque, a pictorial message to any extraterrestrial being that may intercept the probe. It features a design engraved into a gold-anodized aluminum plate, 152 by 229 millimeters (6 by 9 inches), attached to the spacecraft's antenna support struts to help shield it from erosion by interstellar dust.

Selected picture 8

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Columbia launches on STS-78

Space Shuttle Columbia launches on its 23rd mission, STS-78, on June 20, 1996.

Selected picture 9

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A Progress spacecraft.

Progress M-61 seen from the International Space Station prior to docking in August 2007

Selected picture 10

Portal:Spaceflight/Selected picture/10

A Hermes rocket.

The first Hermes A-1 test rocket, fired at White Sands Proving Ground on May 1, 1950. Built by General Electric based on the Wasserfall surface-to-air missile, the Hermes A-1 was capable of reaching an altitude of 150 km.

Selected picture 11

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Pluto and Charon mosaic

This is a composite of images taken of Pluto and Charon during the fly-by of New Horizons on July 14, 2015. The image has been compiled so their relative positions and sizes are correct. Both images were taken by the Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC) on the Ralph telescope experiment. The image of Pluto was taken from a distance of 150,000 miles (240,000 km).

Selected picture 12

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A transit of Earth by the Moon.

A transit of Earth by the Moon, as photographed by the Deep Space Climate Observatory from the Sun-Earth L₁ Lagrangian point. This animation was compiled from a set of 60 frames—20 distinct images, each compiled from monochrome images taken in red, green and blue filters—taken over the course of five hours on July 16, 2015. Each monochrome frame was taken every 30 seconds. Due to the speed of the Moon's motion, this results in a slight green shift in some frames of the animation.

Selected picture 13

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The landing of the first stage of a Falcon 9 Full Thrust rocket

The first stage of a Falcon 9 Full Thrust rocket lands at Landing Zone 1, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, during Falcon 9 Flight 20 at 01:38 UTC on December 22, 2015 (8:38pm December 21 EST). This was the first successful ground landing of a first stage that was used to launch an orbital payload. The payload it launched, eleven Orbcomm G2 satellites, were successfully placed in orbit, its orbital insertion occurring at the same time as the first stage's landing.

Selected picture 14

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An evening launch of a Zenit-3SL rocket from the Sea Launch platform Odyssey.

A Ukrainian Zenit-3SL rocket launches the Italian SICRAL 1B military communications satellite from the Sea Launch platform Odyssey, located in the territorial waters of Kiribati, on April 30, 2009. Sea Launch is a unique launch provider that ships rockets and payloads to be launched from a platform placed at the Equator, providing for optimal payload capacity and direct insertion to geostationary orbit (GEO) without the need to change inclination. Sea Launch has conducted 36 launches since 1999, with four failures.

Selected picture 15

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An Atlas V 551 rocket launches New Horizons on January 19, 2006.

An Atlas V 551 rocket launches from SLC-41, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, on January 19, 2006, carrying the New Horizons probe, which would visit Pluto on July 14, 2015. It was the first launch with the 551 configuration, its launch augmented by five Aerojet AJ-60A solid-rocket motors, providing a total of 2.7 million lb-f of thrust at liftoff. New Horizons would achieve the fastest velocity at launch of any spacecraft, at 58,000 kilometres per hour (36,000 mph). It was the first spacecraft launched directly into a solar escape trajectory.

Selected picture 16

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SpaceX CRS-8 and Cygnus CRS OA-6 docked to the International Space Station on April 10, 2016.

SpaceX CRS-8 and Cygnus CRS OA-6 docked to the International Space Station on April 10, 2016. This is the first time that both types of the Commercial Resupply Services spacecraft—SpaceX Dragon and Orbital ATK Cygnus—were docked at the same time to the ISS. At this time, Dragon was docked to the Harmony nadir port, while Cygnus was docked to the Unity nadir port.

Selected picture 17

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Falcon 9 B1058.1, with Crew Dragon Endeavour, being rolled out from the SpaceX Horizontal Integration Facility.

Falcon 9 B1058.1, with Crew Dragon Endeavour, being rolled out from the SpaceX Horizontal Integration Facility at Launch Pad 39A, Kennedy Space Center on May 21, 2020, in preparation for Crew Dragon Demonstration Mission 2, launched on May 30, 2020, to the International Space Station. It was the first launch vehicle to bear the NASA "worm" logo since 1998.

Selected picture 18

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Crew Dragon Endeavour approaching the International Space Station with open nosecone in preparation for docking.

SpaceX's Crew Dragon Endeavour approaching the International Space Station with open nosecone preparing for docking during the Crew Dragon Demo-2 mission, carrying NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley.

Selected picture 19

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The Falcon Heavy test flight (also known as the Falcon Heavy demonstration mission) was the first attempt by SpaceX to launch a Falcon Heavy rocket on February 6, 2018, at 20:45 UTC. The successful test introduced the Falcon Heavy as the most powerful rocket in operation at the time, producing five million pounds-force (22 MN) of thrust and having more than twice the payload capacity of the next most powerful rocket, United Launch Alliance's Delta IV Heavy.

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Selected picture 20

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Additions

Feel free to add any featured or good articles to the list above.

Current

July 2025

Selected picture

This is a composite of images taken of Pluto and Charon during the fly-by of New Horizons on July 14, 2015. The image has been compiled so their relative positions and sizes are correct. Both images were taken by the Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC) on the Ralph telescope experiment. The image of Pluto was taken from a distance of 150,000 miles (240,000 km).

Archive

For older selected pictures, please see the Archive, for Space exploration portal selected articles, see this archive

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