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Using actual New Horizons data and digital elevation models of Pluto and its largest moon Charon, mission scientists have created flyover movies that offer spectacular new perspectives of the many unusual features that were discovered and which have reshaped our views of the Pluto system – from a vantage point even closer than the spacecraft itself. This dramatic Pluto flyover begins over the highlands to the southwest of the great expanse of nitrogen ice plain informally named Sputnik Planitia. The viewer first passes over the western margin of Sputnik, where it borders the dark, cratered terrain of Cthulhu Macula, with the blocky mountain ranges located within the plains seen on the right. The tour moves north past the rugged and fractured highlands of Voyager Terra and then turns southward over Pioneer Terra -- which exhibits deep and wide pits -- before concluding over the bladed terrain of Tartarus Dorsa in the far east of the encounter hemisphere. Digital mapping and rendering were performed by Paul Schenk and John Blackwell of the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston.

This simulated flyover of Pluto’s Norgay Montes (Norgay Mountains) and Sputnik Planum (Sputnik Plain) was created from New Horizons closest-approach images. Norgay Montes have been informally named for Tenzing Norgay, one of the first two humans to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Sputnik Planum is informally named for Earth’s first artificial satellite. The images were acquired by the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) on July 14 from a distance of 48,000 miles (77,000 kilometers). Features as small as a half-mile (1 kilometer) across are visible. Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI

External cameras on the International Space Station captured views of a strengthening Hurricane Idalia at 11:35 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023 as the station flew 260 miles overhead. Idalia was located over the eastern Gulf of Mexico southwest of Florida at the time of the flyover as a Category 1 storm with winds of 85 miles an hour, moving north toward an expected landfall around the Big Bend area of Florida on August 30 as a Category 3 hurricane, or stronger, that could produce a life-threatening storm surge, according to the National Hurricane Center.

NASA’s SpaceX Dragon Endurance spacecraft carrying NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov autonomously docked to the space-facing port of the Harmony module of the International Space Station at 9:16 a.m. EDT on Aug. 27 following a launch the day before on the SpaceX Dragon Endurance spacecraft aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Following docking, the quartet opened the hatch and floated onboard the orbital outpost before providing welcoming remarks as their mission aboard the space station began. The four crew members will conduct a long-duration science mission living and working aboard the microgravity laboratory to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic exploration missions. Such research benefits people on Earth and lays the groundwork for future human exploration through the agency’s Artemis missions, which will send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future expeditions to Mars.

NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov launched aboard the SpaceX Dragon Endurance spacecraft on Aug. 26 on a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The four crew members are scheduled to arrive at the International Space Station on Aug. 27 where they will conduct a six-month mission living and working aboard the microgravity laboratory to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic exploration missions. Such research benefits people on Earth and lays the groundwork for future human exploration through the agency’s Artemis missions, which will send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future expeditions to Mars.

On March 8, 2019, the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft undocks from the International Space Station, after nearly 5 days aboard the orbiting laboratory during the company’s Demo-1 mission for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program and descends to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere. Just over 5 hours later, the uncrewed spacecraft splashes down in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida and is recovered by SpaceX teams.

Astronaut Chris Hadfield demonstrates how to contain vomit in space.

External cameras on the International Space Station captured views of major Hurricane Franklin at 9:56 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023 as the station flew 260 miles overhead. Franklin was located over the Atlantic well out to sea at the time of the flyover, packing winds of 130 miles an hour. Franklin is moving north-northeast over the Atlantic, according to the National Hurricane Center.

External cameras on the International Space Station captured views of Hurricane Idalia at 10:35 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023, as the station flew 260 miles overhead. Idalia made landfall just before 8 a.m. near Keaton Beach, Florida, along the state’s Big Bend region as a Category 3 storm packing winds of 125 miles an hour. Idalia peaked as a Category 4 storm with 130 miles per hour winds before landfall. According to the National Hurricane Center, the system is moving to the north-northeast at 18 miles an hour, heading for the southeast United States and then out over the Atlantic Ocean.