PIX4639150: Space Exploration: Soyuz and Orion Ships - Artist's View - CEV-Soyuz Joint Mission - An American Orion ship mooring has a Soyuz TMA-M spaceship during a distant space exploration mission. Here, the ship is approaching a satellite stationed at a point in Lagrange. Illustration. An Orion class Crew Exploration Vehicle (AKA Deep Space Vehicle) is paired with a Soyuz TMA-M manned spacecraft for a joint deep space rendezvous with a satellite parked in a gravitationally stable Lagrangian point about 1 million miles beyond the orbit of the Earth's Moon. At this position, in this case a Lagrangian point 2, or L2, the Earth is between the spacecraft and the Sun resulting in the Earth eclipsing much of the Sun's light, however at this distance the Earth does not subtend an angle large enough to cover the entire disk of the Sun. What's visible of the Sun is a brilliant ring of light illuminating the spacecraft. (The streamers of light around the Sun are not the Sun's corona, but rather a way of illustrating the brilliance of the Sun's light as it may appear to the human eye.) The manned spacecraft is directing a spotlight on a hypothetical satellite in order to better examine it. The core of this satellite is protected from the Sun via an attached shade like its real-world L2 counterparts the Herschel and Planck Space Observatories, and the James Webb Space Telescope currently under construction / Bridgeman Images
PIX4639287: Lunar vehicle test. Program constellation - Lunar vehicle test. Constellation program - Lunar vehicle test as part of the Nasa constellation program that is expected to take men to the Moon around 2020. Here, a prototype of a pressurized vehicle (Lunar Electric Rover) that would allow future astronauts to travel long distances. For three days, astronaut Michael Gernhardt and geologist Brent Garry lived independently in the real conditions of exit to the Moon. Brent Garry gets out of the vehicle by putting on a pressurized suit. October 2008, Arizona, USA. During tests conducted for NASA's Desert Research and Technology Studies (RATS) at Black Point Lava Flow in Arizona, engineers, geologists and astronauts gathered to test two configurations of NASA's newest lunar rover prototype. The pressurized version, seen here and called the Lunar Electric Rover, includes a suitport that would allow crew members to climb in and out of spacesuits quickly for moonwalks. Here, Smithsonian Institution geologist Brent Garry donates his suit / Bridgeman Images
PIX4639328: Robonaut2, the Next Generation Dexterous Robonaut 2, designed by Nasa and General Motors, is a humanoid robot designed to assist humans on Earth and in space. Robonaut 2, designed by Nasa and General Motors, is a humanoid robot designed to assist humans on Earth and in space / Bridgeman Images
PIX4639339: Robonaut2, the Next Generation Dexterous Robonaut 2, designed by Nasa and General Motors, is a humanoid robot designed to assist humans on Earth and in space. Robonaut2 - or R2 for short - is the next generation dexterous robot, developed through a Space Act Agreement by NASA and General Motors. It is faster, more dexterous and more technologically advanced than its predecessors and able to use its hands to do work beyond the scope of previously introduced humanoid robots. Robonauts are designed to use the same tools as humans, which allows them to work safely side-by-side humans on Earth and in space / Bridgeman Images
PIX4639389: Robonaut2, the Next Generation Dexterous Robonaut 2, designed by Nasa and General Motors, is a humanoid robot designed to assist humans on Earth and in space. Robonaut2 - or R2 for short - is the next generation dexterous robot, developed through a Space Act Agreement by NASA and General Motors. It is faster, more dexterous and more technologically advanced than its predecessors and able to use its hands to do work beyond the scope of previously introduced humanoid robots. Robonauts are designed to use the same tools as humans, which allows them to work safely side-by-side humans on Earth and in space / Bridgeman Images
PIX4638440: Southern Right Whale - Southern Right Whale - Southern Right Whale (Eubalaena australis). Peninsule Valdes, Argentina. The drawings and shape of the southern right whale's tail identify it as a fingerprint. Southern Right Whale (Eubalaena australis). Valdes Peninsula, Argentina / Bridgeman Images
PIX4638579: Faux de Verzy - Marne - Dwarf Beech - Faux de Verzy - France - Tortuosa (Fagus Sylvatica var Tortuosa). This remarkable tree is a rare beech variety with contorted branches and trunk, the origin of which remains unknown. The Faux site has been classified nationally since 1932. It became a State Biological Reserve in 1981. Dwarf Beech (Fagus sylvatica Tortuosa Group). Marne, Champagne-Ardenne, France / Bridgeman Images