Your favourite space imagery: post them here!

[Drunkrobot]

We are all KSP-players here, we can appreciate the facts and figures of space and spaceflight a little more than the majority. But that doesn't take anything away from the impact an actual picture can have on us.

The crab nebula, the remnants of a supernova 6,500 lightyears away, and 5.5 lightyears in diameter. And you're not even reading this, as you're too busy looking at the photo. I wouldn't blame you.

This thread is a space of appreciation of these pictures, like a sort of gallery of space history. Why not post some of your personal favourites? What types of photos do you love most?

I'll begin by posting a few. While I do love the astronomical photos like the crab nebula above (I'm also looking forward to the New Horizons flyby of Pluto, watching us go from a basic blur to beautiful close-ups of the surface will be very exciting), what I really enjoy is the images of us and our machines up there, contrasting the colours of planets and the black of space to the silvers and whites of mankind, at the same time displaying our ongoing quest to habitat space.

Uh, Bill, you did pack the star-head screwdriver as well, didn't you?

Pictured:One hell of a giant leap.

A slightly weirder taste I have is the art of the earlier space missions, like this one:

You tend to find pictures like these in old textbooks on space (lucky 70s kids, having beautiful things in their frickin' textbooks). In the time before CGI, these paintings would be created from sketches of upcoming missions and vehicles, to show the public what to expect. They had the side benefit on catching the attention of a percentage of children, who would put them on their bedroom walls, and be inspired to become like of the people who made the subjects of the pictures possible.

Some people had pictures of bands or sports teams on their bedroom wall. These people are not that type of people.

Note:I have a request, besides the photos. A friend of mine has suggested that I do a YouTube series. If I do one, I'll like it to be about the could-have-beens in spaceflight, designs that never got "off the ground". To make this series, I need material, like facts, figures and photos of proposed missions and vehicles. If you are aware of anything like this, a link would be much appreciated. Thanks!

[Bioman222]

Every single human, almost all of our accomplisments, and everything else in that one dot.

[nettcod]

Edited September 11, 2013 by nettcod

[nettcod]

Note:I have a request, besides the photos. A friend of mine has suggested that I do a YouTube series. If I do one, I'll like it to be about the could-have-beens in spaceflight, designs that never got "off the ground". To make this series, I need material, like facts, figures and photos of proposed missions and vehicles. If you are aware of anything like this, a link would be much appreciated. Thanks!

How about the X-20 Dyna-Soar?

[SuperFastJellyfish]

My favorite images of all time come from the Venera and Huygens landers.

Actual picture of Venus' landscape:

Actual picture of Titan's landscape:

There are numerous more pictures from these landers, but these two are my favorites. Enjoy!

[NGTOne]

I've loved this picture since I first saw it. Pale Blue Dot, but with a bit of a twist, really makes me think of how small we are...

Some people had pictures of bands or sports teams on their bedroom wall. These people are not that type of people.

I think, to actually be around this forum, you have to be not that type of person

Note:I have a request, besides the photos. A friend of mine has suggested that I do a YouTube series. If I do one, I'll like it to be about the could-have-beens in spaceflight, designs that never got "off the ground". To make this series, I need material, like facts, figures and photos of proposed missions and vehicles. If you are aware of anything like this, a link would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Why not do a series on proposed orbital habitats? Stanford torii, Bernall spheres, and O'Neill cylinders. For some reason, I'm in love with these old orbital city concepts.

Edited September 11, 2013 by NGTOne

[Kryten]

How about the X-20 Dyna-Soar?

There's also the rough Soviet equivalent, the 'Spiral' program. Vaguely similar in goal, but intended to air-launched from a large supersonic aircraft, fitted with a jet engine for powered landing, and various other things. The program lasted longer than X-20, with a full-sized aerodynamic test vehicle flying and sub-scale test vehicles flying in space (BOR). As with most Soviet/Russian space projects, Anatoly Zak's website is very useful.

Edited September 11, 2013 by Kryten

[lajoswinkler]

Doesn't this

http://i.imgur.com/ylFPPHm.jpg

remind you of that famous Hubble photo of Eagle nebula?

[King Arthur]

'Nuff said.

In addition, any pictures the Hubble Space Telescope has taken is automagically awesome.

[Jackissimus]

There are numerous more pictures from these landers, but these two are my favorites. Enjoy!

Are you sure about this? IIRC Venera took only like two pictures before getting fried and Huygens probe took only one picture from the surface of Titan (but there are a few more pictures from descent). Anyway, here's a rehashed version of the Venera pictures, it nicely shows the thick atmosphere:

[OtherDalfite]

Here are some of my favorites. Can't post them all of course. These are REALLY high resolution, so I recommend opening them in a new window to get the most out of them. Hope you guys enjoy!

Javascript is disabled. View full album

[SuperFastJellyfish]

Are you sure about this? IIRC Venera took only like two pictures before getting fried and Huygens probe took only one picture from the surface of Titan (but there are a few more pictures from descent). Anyway, here's a rehashed version of the Venera pictures, it nicely shows the thick atmosphere:

Four of the Venera landers sent back images from the surface. More info here: http://mentallandscape.com/C_CatalogVenus.htm

You are exactly right about Titan. Maybe I shouldn't have used the word numerous.

Edited September 11, 2013 by SuperFastJellyfish

[Kerbin Dallas Multipass]

Hubble ultra deep field

I'm sure you have all seen this, but I find it mindblowing every time I see it.

Shows a portion of the sky smaller than a 1 mm by 1 mm square of paper held at 1 meter away, the light of some of the 10 000 galaxies in the picture took 13.2 billion years to travel.

[astropapi1]

And for a bit of humor:

[Albert VDS]

I had this as my as my wallpaper couple of months ago, by lack of good Saturn V wallpapers.

[DisarmingBaton5]

My wallpaper right now.

[astropapi1]

Apollo 15 LM.

Gemini 6 (from 7).

Probably the most famous footprint in human history.

Rovin'.

Despite being a waste of money, they were beautiful.

Tha powar.

[mythbusters844]

I just love the design of the S-IVB with the flower petals and that. Click on it for a full resolution picture.

[gloowa]

Universe is a work of art:

[nettcod]

Pale Blue Dot 2:

Edited September 14, 2013 by nettcod