Some cool space images:

Moon Rock From Apollo 11 on International Space Station (NASA, 7/21/09)

Image by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center
I never realized this was mounted aboard the International Space Station. How cool!

A moon rock brought to Earth by Apollo 11, humans’ first landing on the moon in July 1969, is shown as it floats aboard the International Space Station. Part of Earth can be seen through the window. The 3.6 billion year-old lunar sample was flown to the station aboard Space Shuttle mission STS-119 in April 2009 in honor of the July 2009 40th anniversary of the historic first moon landing. The rock, lunar sample 10072, was flown to the station to serve as a symbol of the nation’s resolve to continue the exploration of space. It will be returned on shuttle mission STS-128 to be publicly displayed.

Original link:
spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-19/html/…

More about the Crew Earth Observation experiment aboard the International Space Station:
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/science/experiments/CE…

More about space station science:
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/science/index.html

Lake Baikal, Russia (NASA, International Space Station, 04/22/14)

Image by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center
Editor’s note: Meet the deepest lake in the world. 🙂 Happy Wednesday!

In this late afternoon shot, one of the Expedition 39 crew members aboard the International Space Station looked back toward the setting sun and used a 145mm lens on an electronic still camera to capture the hook-shaped southern half of Lake Baikal in eastern Russia on April 22, 2014. Most of the lake is covered with dull gray ice. The brightest point in the center of the image is the reflection of the sun’s rays off a small zone of open water (center) where the ice has begun to melt. Broken ice masses appear adjacent to the sunglint point (center). The sun’s rays are also reflected off the water surface of the straight Angara River, the main outlet of the lake (top right). Lake Baikal is 636 kilometers long (395 miles). It is the deepest lake in the world and holds the largest amount of fresh water. Individual smoke plumes from factories arc away from the north shore (top left). Large smoke palls from wildfires appear in upper right.

Original image:
www.flickr.com/photos/nasa2explore/14170965145/in/set-721…

About Crew Earth Observations:

In Crew Earth Observations (CEO), crewmembers on the International Space Station (ISS) photograph the Earth from their unique point of view located 200 miles above the surface. Photographs record how the planet is changing over time, from human-caused changes like urban growth and reservoir construction, to natural dynamic events such as hurricanes, floods and volcanic eruptions. A major emphasis of CEO is to monitor disaster response events in support of the International Disaster Charter (IDC). CEO imagery provides researchers on Earth with key data to understand the planet from the perspective of the ISS. Crewmembers have been photographing Earth from space since the early Mercury missions beginning in 1961. The continuous images taken from the ISS ensure this record remains unbroken.

Image credit: NASA

Original image:
eol.jsc.nasa.gov/EarthObservatory/BrusselsandAntwerpatNig…

More about space station research:
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/index.html

View more photos like this in the "NASA Earth Images" Flickr photoset:
www.flickr.com/photos/28634332@N05

________________________________
These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin…

Portal Space Core Cake closeup

Image by sharkhats
We had the space core cake commissioned for our 3 year anniversary. A followup to our Katamari wedding cake. Created by Mike’s Amazing Cakes in Redmond WA