On September 24, 2023, a capsule from NASA’s Osiris-Rex mission floated back to Earth and landed safely in the Utah desert. The mission was the first time the United States brought back asteroid debris and was a big moment for the space agency. OSIRIS-REx’s historic success is notable for: NASA HQ’s Best Photo Albums of 2023 recently selected and shared on Flickr.
Other landmark moments captured in photos include the launch of the Psyche spacecraft, the landing of the SpaceX Dragon Endurance, and Frank Rubio, the record holder for the longest single space flight by a U.S. astronaut, to Earth. This includes the return of
NASA Headquarters shared 100 photos and we selected 13 of our favorites.
A Soyuz rocket is seen being delivered by train to the launch pad at Site 31 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Tuesday, September 12, 2023. NASA’s 70th Expedition Cosmonaut Loral O’Hara and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chubb are scheduled to launch on September 15th aboard the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft. Image: NASA/Bill Ingalls
A sample return capsule training model is seen during a drop test in preparation for the recovery of the sample return capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission at the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. The samples were collected from asteroid Bennu by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft in October 2020, and are scheduled to return to Earth on September 24 and land by parachute at a test and training range in Utah. Image: NASA/Keegan Barber
The support team, along with NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Warren “Woody” Horberg, UAE astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrei Fezyaev, will fly into the Atlantic Ocean. Immediately after landing offshore, SpaceX’s Dragon Endeavor spacecraft will be lifted aboard the recovery vessel Megan. Monday, September 4, 2023, on the coast of Jacksonville, Florida. Bowen, Hoberg, Arneyadi, and Fezyaev will return after approximately six months in space as part of the International Space Station’s 69th Expedition. Image: NASA/Joel Kowsky
In this 8-minute long exposure, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company’s Dragon spacecraft shows off NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghberg, ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen, and Japan Airlines. It will launch with the space agency on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 mission to the International Space Station. On Saturday, August 26, 2023, JAXA astronaut Satoshi Furukawa and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov boarded at NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This image also shows the right approach burn and landing burn performed by the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket returning to Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 mission is his seventh crew rotation mission to the International Space Station on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Moghberg, Mogensen, Furukawa, and Borisov lifted off from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A at 3:27 a.m. EDT, beginning a six-month mission at the orbital outpost. Image: NASA/Joel Kowsky
Soyuz rocket with NASA Expedition 70 cosmonaut Loral O’Hara and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chubut at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Friday, September 15, 2023. It will be launched. Image: NASA/Bill Ingalls
Members of the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) flight operations team are seen piloting a helicopter as the sample return capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission makes its way to the clean room, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023. Shortly after the capsule landed at Kennedy Space Center. Department of Defense Utah Test and Training Range. The sample was collected from asteroid Bennu by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft in October 2020. Image: NASA/Keegan Barber
A curation team processes a sample return capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission in a clean room at the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range on Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023. The sample was collected from asteroid Bennu by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft in October 2020. Image: NASA/Keegan Barber
Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitri Peterin touch down in a remote area near the Kazakh town of Zhekazgan on Wednesday, September 27, 2023, NASA’s 69th Expedition Astronaut Frank Rubio is rescued from the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft. The trio returned to Earth after spending 371 days in space as members of Expedition 68-69 on the International Space Station. For Rubio, his mission is the longest single spaceflight ever by a U.S. astronaut. Image: NASA/Bill Ingalls
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket carrying the Psyche spacecraft lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, October 13, 2023. NASA’s Psyche spacecraft will visit the metal-rich asteroid of the same name, which orbits the sun between Mars and Jupiter, to study its composition. The spacecraft also carries a demonstration of the agency’s deep space optical communications technology, which will test laser communications beyond the moon. Image: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani
A sample from the asteroid Bennu is seen prepared on a microscope slide at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, Friday, Nov. 3, 2023. The sample was collected in October 2020 by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft from a carbon-rich site near Earth’s asteroid Bennu. Image: NASA/Keegan Barber
A sample return capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission is seen shortly after landing in the desert at the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023. The sample was collected from asteroid Bennu by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft in October 2020. Image: NASA/Keegan Barber
The moon and star Antares fly over SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket carrying SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft on the launch pad at Launch Complex 39A, Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023, at NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Can be seen. . NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 mission is the seventh crew rotation mission to the International Space Station by the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghberg, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov on August 26th. It is scheduled to lift off from the launch site at 3:27 a.m. EDT on Saturday. 39A at Kennedy Space Center. Image: NASA/Joel Kowsky
Immediately after landing in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Tampa with NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata, and Roscosmos astronaut Anna Kikina. A support team works around the SpaceX Dragon Endurance spacecraft. , Florida, Saturday, March 11, 2023. Mann, Casada, Wakata, and Kikina will return after 157 days in space as part of Expedition 68 aboard the International Space Station. Image: NASA/Keegan Barber