69 years ago, on October 24, 1946, a V-2 missile fitted with a 35mm camera took the first ever photo from space.
The grainy, black and white photo was, at the time, considered revolutionary. It was the first time humanity saw Earth in the context of the vast, empty space.
Mars is the solar system’s it planet, what with breakthrough reports of Martian water and a blockbuster movie about a Red Planet castaway
soon to hit theaters. But Mars is hard—really, really hard. And while
sending humans there is not just a grand dream but an achievable one, we
shouldn’t kid ourselves about just how deadly a place it could be. Here
are a few of the things that make living on—and merely getting to—Mars
so risky.
NASA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) has captured a view of the moon that is impossible to see from Earth.
“Earth rocks! Let’s protect it. Happy #AsteroidDay from @space_station! #YearInSpace” -via Twitter on June 30, 2015
TIME is following Kelly’s mission in the new series, A Year In Space. Watch the first two episodes here.
Photo: Scott Kelly/NASA
In this parting image, the New Horizons spacecraft captured a darkened Pluto backlit by the sun—illuminating the hydrocarbon haze circling the dwarf planet for the first time.
Photo: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI
