NASA

Picture of the Sun taken by the STEREO-A space probe (Photo NASA/STEREO)

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NASA’s STEREO-A (Solar TErrestrial Relations Observatory Ahead) space probe has resumed contact with the Earth a few days ago after more than three months and on July 15 sent new photographs of the other side of the Sun from the Earth. Its EUVI (Extreme UltraViolet Imager) instrument was used to take photographs at a wavelength of 171 angstroms, invisible the human eye, then colorized in blue to allow us to appreciate them.

The mountains on Pluto's equatorial region photographed by the New Horizons space probe (Photo NASA/JHU APL/SwRI)

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NASA unveiled the first of the long-awaited photographs taken by the New Horizons spacecraft during its Pluto flyby that took place on July 14. They reveal among other things the presence of mountains even 3,500 meters (11,000 feet) high. A photo of Charon taken on July 13 was also released and it shows several fractures on its crust. These close-up images show geological activity on both Pluto and Charon, an unexpected fact.

Pluto and Charon photographed by the New Horizon space probe on July 11, 2015 (Photo NASA-JHUAPL-SWRI)

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Today, NASA’s New Horizons space probe will carry out the much anticipated Pluto flyby. When at NASA’s mission control center it’s early morning, it will pass at a distance that will reach a minimum of 12,500 kilometers (about 7,800 miles) from the dwarf planet. All New Horizons’ instruments will be used to analyze Pluto as ever before but some time will be devoted also to its moons, particularly Charon.

The SpaceX Dragon space cargo ship blasting off atop a Falcon9 in its CRS-7 mission (Image NASA)

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A flittle while ago the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft blasted off on a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral in its CRS-7 (Cargo Resupply Service 7) mission, also referred to as SPX-7. It was supposed to be the seventh mission that sent the Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station with various a cargo. Unfortunately a couple of minutes after launch something went wrong, causing the destruction of the rocket and the Dragon.

Terry Virts, Anton Shkaplerov and Samantha Cristoforetti assisted after their landing in the Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft (Photo NASA TV, Anatoly Zak)

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A little while ago, NASA astronaut Terry Virts, Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, and Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, returned to Earth on the Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft, landed without problems in Kazakhstan. The three of them spent nearly six and a half months on the International Space Station, where they arrived on November 24, 2014. They were initially part of the Expedition 42, in the second half of their stay they were part of Expedition 43 with Terry Virts as Station commander.