It was another bustling month for spaceflight, the dog days of summer are blazing with the added heat from botched engine tests and a trove of fiery rocket launches. As always, the past month of spaceflight presented a plethora of captivating visuals.
July has come to a close, so it’s time for us to review our favourite space-themed images from the past several weeks.
Ariane 5 blasts off for the final time
After 27 years of dutiful service, Arianespace’s Ariane 5 rocket flew for the last time, departing Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on July 5. The legendary rocket took part in some historic missions, including the Rosetta comet probe, the BepiColombo mission to Mercury, and the Webb Space Telescope. With the French-built rocket now retired, Europe finds itself starved for launch providers, as the successor rocket, Ariane 6, likely won’t fly until next year.
Saturn illuminates
NASA’s Webb Space Telescope pierced the cosmic darkness with its inaugural near-infrared survey of the ringed spectacle that is Saturn. The planet, enveloped in light-absorbing methane gas, presented a stark silhouette against its radiant icy rings, as captured by Webb’s infrared gaze.
SpaceX makes a splash
On July 28, SpaceX performed a full-pressure test of its Starship flame deflector—basically, an oversized upside-down shower head. Once operational, the system will work to suppress Starship’s power, which produces nearly 17 million pounds of thrust at launch. The megarocket performed its inaugural launch in April without the benefit of a deluge system, resulting in tremendous damage to the pad and the spewing of rocks and dust into the surrounding areas.
Preparing for the big day
This photo shows a military rep investigating a mock capsule meant to emulate the one that’s soon to be released by OSIRIS-REx—a NASA probe that retrieved an asteroid sample from Bennu in October 2020 and, since May 2021, has been making its journey back to Earth. The rep was researching for any undetonated explosives, and he’ll be the first one on the scene when the actual capsule touches down at the Utah Test and Training Range operated by the Department of Defense on September 24th. This photo was captured during a rehearsal conducted by the OSIRIS-REx team in Utah on July 18, part of a series of drills that ran from July 18 to 20.
Fly, Falcon 9, fly
The exhaust plume of a SpaceX Falcon 9 dazzles during launch on July 28. The medium-lift rocket took off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, successfully delivering a batch of Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit.
Neutron’s new look
Rocket Lab’s forthcoming Neutron heavy-lift launch vehicle has undergone a design tweak, with the fairing now consisting of two halves, rather than the original four quarters (as shown in the inset image at the top right). The new conceptual images, released in late July, suggest a number of other changes as well, but the reusable rocket’s basic functions and specifications remain unaltered.
DART spawns space boulders
The Hubble Space Telescope captured an image of asteroid Dimorphos on December 19, 2022, revealing a batch of boulders dislodged by NASA’s DART mission impact four months earlier (this image was finally made public in July). These faint objects, ranging from three to 22 feet in size, are among the faintest objects Hubble has ever photographed within our solar system and are slowly drifting from the asteroid at just over half a mile per hour. This unexpected discovery provides critical insights into the reaction of a small asteroid when struck with the intention to modify its trajectory.
Space Barbies at the Smithsonian
A pair of Barbies that spent a few months aboard the International Space Station are now on display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.
Falcon Heavy sets new launch record
SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy set a new record on July 29 by hoisting the 9.2-metric-ton EchoStar 24 (Jupiter 3) communications satellite to geostationary transfer orbit. It’ll be the heaviest comm satellite to work in geostationary orbit.
Suspected rocket part washes ashore in Australia
On July 16, a suspected rocket part washed ashore near Jurien Bay in Western Australia. The 8-foot-wide object was badly damaged and it exhibited signs of having been in the water for a prolonged period. On July 30, the Australian Space Agency said it was “most likely debris” from an expended Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), a medium-lift rocket that the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) launches on a frequent basis.
Happy birthday, Webb
The James Webb Space Telescope’s first-anniversary image presented a unique, detailed view of star birth. It shows the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex, our closest star-forming area. Despite its small size and calmness, Webb’s image shows it full of action. Jets from young stars cross the image, making nearby gas glow red. Some stars even show shadows hinting at new planetary systems being formed.
Sleek new vans arrive at NASA Kennedy
On July 11, 2023, against the backdrop of the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building, three custom-made, fully electric, eco-friendly crew transport vehicles were showcased at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. These zero-emission vehicles, the work of Canoo Technologies Inc. from Torrance, California, are set to transport astronauts to Launch Complex 39B for the forthcoming Artemis missions.
Big badda boom in Japan
A second-stage engine belonging to Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Epsilon S rocket exploded during a test on July 14 in Noshiro, Japan, spewing fire and smoke and badly damaging the test facility. The incident marked another frustrating blow to Japan’s struggling space program.
Blast off to the Moon
ISRO successfully launched its Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM3) on July 14, sending its Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft to the Moon. Chandrayaan-3 represents India’s third lunar expedition and the nation’s second attempt to make a landing on the Moon’s surface.
The first methane rocket to reach orbit
On July 12, LandSpace, a private company based in China, sent its Zhuque-2 rocket into Earth’s orbit. This marked the first time a methane-powered launch vehicle achieved such a feat.
Orbital life
This stunning view, taken from the International Space Station at an altitude of 270 miles (434 kilometres), was taken on July 2. It shows clouds over the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Argentina and the lab’s solar arrays (at top left).
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