PIX4650088: Shuttle Explosion Challenger STS - 51L 28/01/1986 - Space Shuttle Challenger accident Jan 28 1986 - The bright luminous glow at the top is attributed to the rupture of the liquid oxygen tank just above the SRB/ET attachment. At this point, Challenger is completely engulfed in a firey flow of escaping liquid propellant. Jan 28 1986 / Bridgeman Images

PIX4650169: Extra-vehicle exit J. Ross STS61B 12/1985 - Extra-vehicle exit J. Ross STS61B 12/1985 - Extra-vehicle exit of astronaut Jerry L. Ross, fixed on the arm of the shuttle. He approaches ACCESS (Assembly Concept for Construction of Eable Space Structures) an experiment to test the assembly of structures in space. 01/12/1985. Astronaut Jerry L. Ross, anchored to the foot restraint on the remote manipulator system (RMS), approaches the tower - like Assembly Concept for Construction of Ecrectable Space Structures (ACCESS) device. Dec 01 1985 / Bridgeman Images

PIX4650176: Houston Training Pool - NBL facilities (Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory) - The Houston Pool (Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory) is used for astronaut training. Measuring 60 metres long, 30 metres wide and 12 metres deep, this basin hosts models of the International Space Station modules allowing astronauts to train in a state close to weightlessness on their future outings into space. The Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory pool at Nasa's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, where astronauts, wearing a 65 - kg Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) spacesuit, practice spacewalking and working outside the International Space Station during underwater simulated extravehicular activities (EVAs). This facility consists in a 60 - m - long, 30 - m - wide and 12 - m - deep water reservoir, with a capacity of 23,500 cubic meters. Two overhead bridge cranes are used to display mock space station modules for training. The spacesuit buoyancy provides a simulated weightlessness for astronaut trainees. Most ESA astronauts have been practicing EVAs at the NBL as part of their NASA Mission Specialist training / Bridgeman Images

LRI4650217: Adam and Eve Hunts of Earthly Paradise Low Embossed Marble by Jacopo Della Quercia (1374/8-1438) 1430-1435 Dim. 86x68 cm Bologna Chiesa di San Petronio, Quercia, Jacopo della (c.1372-1438) / Bridgeman Images

JLJ4650237: Portrait of a Gentleman, 1604 (oil on canvas), Greco, El (Domenico Theotocopuli) (1541-1614) / Bridgeman Images

PIX4650561: LHC: Peter Higgs visits the ATLAS experiment - LHC: Peter Higgs visits the ATLAS experiment - Peter Higgs visits the LHC instrument that could discover the Higgs boson. 4 April 2008. Peter Higgs visits the ATLAS experiment, which may find the elusive Higgs boson. April 4 2008 / Bridgeman Images

LRI4686254: Female statue draped as a votive offering, from Sorrento (marble), Greek school, (3rd century BC) / Bridgeman Images

JLJ4686534: Cosmography schemas. Catalan Atlas with zodiac signs. Manuscript from 1375 (miniature), Unknown Artist, (14th century) / Bridgeman Images

JLJ4686575: Don Quixote cheats by sancho takes a peasant for dulcinee. "The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha", 1720 (oil on canvas), Coypel, Antoine (1661-1722) / Bridgeman Images

JLJ4686738: Landscape with the boat of Saint Paula Romana at Ostia, 17th century (oil on canvas), Claude Lorrain (Claude Gellee) (1600-82) / Bridgeman Images

LRI4650819: The Miracle of Saint Andre (Andrea) Corsini (1302-1373), Italian Carmelite and Eveque of Fiesole High Relief by Giovanni Battista Foggini (1652-1725) 1675-1699 Florence, Chiesa di Santa Maria del Carmine, Foggini, Giovanni Battista (1652-1725) / Bridgeman Images

JLJ4619887: Birth of Louis (then King of France Louis XI (1423-1483), 1905 (illustration), Job, pseudonym for Onfray de Breville, Jacques (1858-1931) / Bridgeman Images

PIX4619908: Nebulae NGC 6589 - 90 in Sagittarius - Nebulosity in Sagittarius, NGC 6589 - 90 - Located in Sagittarius, the reflexion nebulae NGC 6589 - 90 are located at a distance of about 5900 light years from Earth. Image obtained with a telescope 61 cm in diameter. The two bright blue clouds are NGC 6589 and NGC 6590. Image taken with a 24 - inch telescope / Bridgeman Images

PIX4619923: Eagle Nebula (IC 4703) and star cluster M16 in the Snake - M16 (NGC 6611) is lying some 7,000 light years distant in the constellation Serpens, close to the borders to Scutum and Sagittarius 12.5” RC, F6, RRGB = 60:10:20 / Bridgeman Images

JLJ4639985: Illustration from the book "Complete Works of Buffon": Les Quadrupedes: La giraffe (engraving), Unknown artist, (18th century) / Bridgeman Images

LRI4639999: Site of the tophet of the Punic City of Sulcis, late 8th century BC (photography), Phoenician / Bridgeman Images

LRI4640037: Overview of the former military port on the Punic site of Utica, 12th century BC (photography), Carthaginian (7th-3rd century BC) / Bridgeman Images

JLJ4640048: Illustration from the book "Complete Works of Buffon": Les Quadrupedes (engraving), Unknown artist, (18th century) / Bridgeman Images

PIX4640078: Experience Mars500 - Mars500 experiment facility in Moscow - Installed at the Russian Institute of Bio-Medical Problems (IBMP) in Moscow, the 550 m Seal Simulator consists of an interplanetary spacecraft and a Martian lander, and features a Martian landscape. The Mars500 experience is a Martian mission simulation that began on June 3, 2010. The crew locked up for 520 days consists of six people. They are Italian-Colombian Diego Urbina (27) and Frenchman Roman Charles (31) selected by ESA, Russian Sukhrob Kamolov (32), Alexey Sitev (38), Alexandr Smoleevskiy (33) and Chinese Wang Yue (26). March 500, the first full-length simulated mission to Mars, started on June 3 2010 when the six-man crew entered their 'spacecraft' and the hatch was closed. The experiment will run until November 2011. Diego Urbina and Romain Charles from Europe, Sukhrob Kamolov, Alexey Sitev, Alexandr Smoleevskiy and Wang Yue from China face a mission that is as close as possible to a real space voyage without leaving the ground. During 520 days, they will live and work like astronauts, eat special food and exercise in the same way as crews aboard the International Space Station / Bridgeman Images

PIX4640224: Space lift on the Moon - Artist's view - Lunar elevator lunar base - Lunar base equipped with a space lift. A manned lunar space elevator prepares to depart from its manned lunar base. Surrounding it are support facilities and cargo. The yellow machine on the right is an articulated manned manipulator for handling cargo and managing the elevator. The space elevator concept involves running a cable from the surface of a planet or moon up to a gravitationally - stable point in space, whereupon a specially - designed vehicle can climb and descend the cable. Also known as tether propulsion and non-rocket space launch, this method permits an alternative way to access space. In the case of the lunar space elevator, the cable is anchored to the surface of the Moon and ascends to a stable Lagrange point. In this illustration the cable, in the form of a ribbon, is anchored to the southern hemisphere of the near - side of the Moon and ascends approximately 35,000 miles towards the Earth. The manned climbing vehicle, the “” elevator,””” is powered by solar energy collected via its array of photovoltaics. The manned elevator illustrated is approximately 160 feet long. Traveling at a velocity of roughly 60 mph it would take the elevator about 3 weeks to cover the distance between the lunar surface and Lagrange point in space / Bridgeman Images

LUX4717211: France, Centre, Loir-et-Cher (41), Blois: Fireplace of the hotel d'Alluye with a cast iron stove, 1885 / Bridgeman Images

LUX4717492: France, Lower Normandy, Calvados (14), Deauville: Villa ' La Hutte', 1880 - villa d'Eugene Villette, photographer / Bridgeman Images

LUX4717648: France, Lower Normandy, Manche (50), Granville: the pebble beach of Granville near the port of Herel, 1885 / Bridgeman Images

LUX4717671: Monaco: The facade of the Prince's Palace, 1885 / Bridgeman Images

GIA4717699: Portrait group of artists (Macchiaioli) in Florence: among them at the top left to right Gaetano Bianchi, Cristiano Banti, Vito d'Ancona, Odoardo Borrani, lower left to right, Serafino de Tivoli, Francesco Saverio Altamura, unidentified and Luigi Buonamici 1856 approximately, Anonymous / Bridgeman Images

LUX4718055: Tyrol, Otzthal: Tyrolean dresses in traditional Otzthal dress, 1890 / Bridgeman Images

GIA4718164: First World War: “” Italian alpine hunters (alpino or alpini) climbing to the top of the Cauriol, Italian Alps”” 1916 Illustration from “La domenica del corriere””, Anonymous / Bridgeman Images

LUX4718236: Tyrol, Alpach: a woman poses in traditional Alpach dress, 1875 / Bridgeman Images

PIX4671168: Rainbow - Rainbow - Rainbow - Arc - en - ciel tres colorore. 2 December 2008 Rainbow. December 2nd, 2008 / Bridgeman Images

PIX4671315: Parhely - Sun dog - Parhelies are optical phenomena due to the interaction of solar light on ice crystals. Sundogs appear generally when the sun is low, and the atmosphere is filled with ice crystals forming cirrus clouds; they are caused by the refraction of sunlight passing through ice crystals / Bridgeman Images

PIX4671367: Parhely - Sun dog - Parhelies are optical phenomena due to the interaction of solar light on ice crystals. The parhely is clearly off the halo of 22* radius when the Sun is 21* high. Sundogs appear generally when the sun is low, and the atmosphere is filled with ice crystals forming cirrus clouds; they are caused by the refraction of sunlight passing through ice crystals / Bridgeman Images

PIX4671383: Solar Parhely - Sun dog - Parhelies are the optical phenomena caused by the interaction of solar light on ice crystals. Sundogs appear generally when the sun is low, and the atmosphere is filled with ice crystals forming cirrus clouds; they are caused by the refraction of sunlight passing through ice crystals / Bridgeman Images

PIX4671467: Brocken Spectrum - Brocken Spectrum - Brocken Spectrum over Cirque de Mafate - Reunion Island Brocken Spectrum seen above Cirque de Mafate - Reunion, June 2011 / Bridgeman Images

PIX4671501: Solar column - Solar pillar - A solar column is created by the reflection of solar light on the horizontal faces of ice crystals. Therefore, a fairly stable atmosphere is needed to keep these crystals parallel on the horizon. 6 February 2006. A solar pillar is created by the reflection a sunlight (when sun is at or low to the horizon) on the horizontal face of ice cristals. So, a quiet atmosphere is needed in order that this cristals stay parallel to the horizon. February 6, 2006, Brittany / Bridgeman Images

LRI4671521: Virgin with child (relief, 16th century), Siloe, Diego de (c.1495-1563) / Bridgeman Images

JLJ4671538: Campaign of Egypt (1798-1801), 19th century (tapestry), Mulard, Francois Henri (1769-1850) / Bridgeman Images