🚀 Liftoff of a Soyuz rocket carrying three space travelers to the @ISS! At 3:42 a.m. EDT on Fri., April 9, the Soyuz MS-18 successfully launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, with Mark Vande Hei of @NASAAstronauts, and cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov of Roscosmos aboard. The trio took a fast-track, three-hour, two-orbit journey, docking their spacecraft at 7:05 a.m. EDT and joining the seven crew members currently living and working on the International Space Station. This launch took place just days before the 60th anniversary of a historic milestone in spaceflight: on April 12, 1961, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin took to the skies, ascending into orbit for 108 minutes of history. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls #Soyuz #Rockets #Spaceflight #Kazkhstan #Liftoff

🎵Blue Duuuuuuuune 🎵 Sand dunes often accumulate in the floors of craters. Shown here is a sea of dark dunes, sculpted by the wind into long striations, surrounding Mars' northern polar cap and covers an area as big as Texas! In this false-color image, areas with cooler temperatures are recorded in bluer tints, while warmer features are depicted in yellows and oranges. ✍️FILL IN THE BLANK: This scene combines images taken during the period from Dec. 2002 to Nov. 2004 by the Thermal Emission Imaging System instrument on the ________________. *Hint: It is the longest-working Mars spacecraft in history. Give us your best guess in the comments! Image credit: @NASAJPL-Caltech #NASA #Mars #Planet #RedPlanet #Dunes #Marte #Texture

Meet your Crew-2 astronauts! ✌️⁣ ⁣ The next crew to launch from @NASAKennedy to the International Space Station is, from left: Mission Specialist Thomas Pesquet (@Thom_Astro) of the @EuropeanSpaceAgency; Pilot Megan McArthur of NASA; Commander Shane Kimbrough (@Astro_Kimbrough) of NASA; and Mission Specialist Akihiko Hoshide of @JAXAjp.⁣ ⁣ NASA's @SpaceX Crew-2 mission is targeted for liftoff on Thursday, April 22, at 6:11 a.m. EDT. It's the first Commercial Crew mission flying two international partners. During their stay of approximately 6 months on the space station, the astronauts will conduct scientific research in areas such as medical technology, human health, and materials to benefit life on Earth.⁣ ⁣ Credit: SpaceX ⁣ ⁣ #LaunchAmerica #Crew2 #Astronauts #SpaceExploration