Seeing with Hubble-vision 36 years of science with the Hubble Space Telescope

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope celebrates 36 years in space this week! 🧪🔭

@esa.int @science.esa.int @eui-euarchives.bsky.social @stsci.edu

🆕 The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a renewed view of the Trifid Nebula, a scene it first observed in 1997.

🔗 www.esa.int/Science_Expl...

@science.esa.int @stsci.edu

Put science back in the driver’s seat Put science back in the driver’s seat

Don't miss my new op-ed on how space science is getting demoted to hitchhiker status at NASA:

spacenews.com/put-science-...

April 14, 2023: Launch of the Juice mission on an Ariane 5 launcher.

Juice images Earth during lunar-Earth flyby

First radargram from Juice’s RIME instrument

Juice's full path, 3 years into its journey.

Three years since Juice launched on its journey to Jupiter. 🧪🔭

Arriving in 2031, it will explore the giant planet and its icy ocean moons, seeking to study them as both planetary objects and possible habitats.

More info 👇 www.esa.int/Science_Expl...

ESA's European Service Module in white on the left, with solar panel across the top of the image. An exhaust plume from one of the spacecraft's thrusters is clearly seen across the centre of the image against the blackness of space.

Thruster firing on @esa.int’s European Service Module for Artemis II on 10 April 2026, great interview from Airbus Space’s Sian Cleaver from 19:40 onwards…

www.bbc.com/audio/play/p...

I'm still amazed by the images we got of Orion separating from the European Service Module (ESM)

I really hope NASA was able to downlink them at a higher quality before the Service Module reentered. #Artemis

Thanks for the shout-out Reid! Safe travels from your European friends at @esa.int and Airbus 💞

View of spacecraft with three red and white main parachutes deployed, view of sunlit ocean behind.

View of spacecraft with three red and white main parachutes deployed, view of dark blue ocean behind.

✅ #Artemis II splashdown at 01:07 BST/02:07 CEST!

🛰️ Our European Service Module has successfully separated from Orion's crew module!
🚀 After propelling the spacecraft over 1 million km in deep space, it will now burn up in Earth's atmosphere, as the astronauts continue their journey home 🌍

The right side of the Orion spacecraft is seen lit up by the Sun. A waxing crescent Moon is visible behind it. A crescent Earth, tiny compared to the Moon, is about to set below the Moon’s horizon on the right

Great view of Artemis II spacecraft, taken by a camera on one of the European Service Module’s solar arrays. The Moon and Earth are in one frame on mission Day 6. @esa.int and NASA logos are clearly seen on underside of the Adapter Module, the ESM is at left (pic: NASA)
www.nasa.gov/image-detail...

The Moon seen backlit by the Sun during the solar eclipse period on 7 April CEST, is photographed by one of the cameras on the European Service Module’s solar array wings. Orion is visible in the foreground on the left. Earth is reflecting sunlight at the left edge of the Moon, which is slightly brighter than the rest of the disk. The bright spot visible just below the Moon’s bottom right edge is Saturn. Beyond that, the bright spot at the right edge of the image is Mars.

Graphic showing Artemis II position and trajectory

✅ #Artemis II update: Day 7, Orion now heading back to Earth at 2245 km/h, 367 530 km from Earth and 77 666 km from the Moon. Image is from early morning of 7 April, during the eclipse period (pic: NASA). Track at nasa.gov/missions/art...

@exploration.esa.int

On a black background of space, a blue and white Earth just before 'setting' behind the Moon, in foreground, seen from Artemis II, 6 April 2026

Totality seen from lunar orbit, the Moon eclipses the Sun, revealing a view few humans have ever witnessed, a dark disc surrounded by a pale solar corona.

✅ #Artemis II update: 'Earthset', 6 April 2026, and 'totality', 7 April, seen from lunar orbit, the Moon eclipses the Sun, a view few humans have ever witnessed (pics: NASA)

🔗 www.nasa.gov/gallery/jour...

@exploration.esa.int l

The Orion European Service Module and Adapter Module visible on the left, with crescent Moon and crescent Earth about to disappear behind the Moon

Graphic showing Artemis II mission milestones

✅ #Artemis II update: ‘Earthrise 2026’, or rather ‘Earthset’. Just after this view from the livefeed, Orion and its crew reached their farthest point from Earth, 406 772 km away. They are now on their way home, set on the free return trajectory by our European Service Module🚀

@exploration.esa.int

(April 6, 2026) In this fully illuminated view of the Moon, the near side (the hemisphere we see from Earth), is visible on the right. It is identifiable by the dark splotches that cover its surface. These are ancient lava flows from a time early in the Moon’s history when it was volcanically active. The large crater west of the lava flows is Orientale basin, a nearly 600-mile-wide crater that straddles the Moon’s near and far sides. Orientale's left half is not visible from Earth, but in this image we have a full view of the crater. Everything to the left of the crater is the far side, the hemisphere we don’t get to see from Earth because the Moon rotates on its axis at the same rate that it orbits round us. Image Credit: NASA

👨‍🚀 The #Artemis II crew are now further from home than any humans ever, and European engines brought them there 🚀.
🌍 The record of 400 171 km was previously held by the Apollo 13 mission 🌕.

screenshot of spacecraft equipment, crew cabin interior, with astronaut holding white card with Apollo 8 patch (printed on betacloth), mission elapsed time in top left corner

Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen holds up an Apollo 8 beta cloth patch, sent by the family of Jim Lovell to the Artemis II crew to carry on this mission.

Before going to sleep on flight day 5, the Artemis II crew snapped one more photo of the Moon, as it drew close in the window of the Orion spacecraft. Orion and the four humans aboard entered the lunar sphere of influence at 06:37 CEST on 6 April, at the tail end of the fifth day of their mission. That marked the point at which the Moon's gravity had a stronger pull on the spacecraft than Earth's. Artemis II's closest approach to the Moon will come on flight day 6, as they swing around the far side before beginning their journey back to Earth.

✅ #Artemis II update: the spacecraft entered the lunar sphere of influence this morning at 05:37 BST/06:37 CEST, 6 April, at about 51 000 km from the Moon (the region of space where the Moon’s gravitational pull is stronger than that of Earth’s).

www.nasa.gov/image-detail...

@exploration.esa.int

The Moon as seen by Artems II on 4 April 2026. Mare Orientale is seen side on as the feature narrow feature on the right limb of the Moon, just past the darker blob of crater Grimaldi.

OK this is cool. The first time humans have seen the whole Mare Orientale on the far side of the Moon with their own eyes. See flic.kr/p/2s5HA2X 🧪🔭

Spectacular high-resolution image of our home planet viewed through the Orion Crew Module window by the Artemis II astronauts as they continue their journey to the Moon on Flight Day 2, 3 April 2026 (pic: NASA)

A full disc image of Earth, as seen from the Orion Crew Module. The planet is a pale blue, swirling with white clouds and glowing slightly lighter blue in place from reflected light. At lower left, a large brown landmass is Africa, with Spain and Portugal with twinkling lights where the planet curves. At top right, auroras glow in a thin green glow, just barely separated from the planet's surface. Earth is set against the black of space (pic: NASA/R.Wiseman)

😮 Awesome views from Day 2 of #Artemis II this morning.

@exploration.esa.int @esaearth.esa.int

The 'hoax' of the Nazi time zone in Spain that still robs us of sleep
➡️ https://l.euronews.com/Uv18

The Orion cabin configured for crew sleep. It looks like a mess with blue sleeping bags draped over everything.

It’s 03:30 for me, so how about a review of the sleep config of the Orion cabin? This is a fairly straightforward config & the crew has some flexibility for how they want to arrange things. Typically crew sleep is a cameras off period, but I’m sure they’ll give folks a peek at some point.

Newly discovered photos show astronaut Neil Armstrong after the Gemini 8 emergency Sixty years after Neil Armstrong barely survived an emergency in orbit around Earth on Gemini 8, never-before-seen photos of his heroic return have been donated to the Ohio museum that bears his name.

‘New’ photos of Neil Armstrong and Dave Scott after Gemini 8 discovered…

#ComingSoon: Artemis II next launch opportunities open from 1 April 23:24 BST/2 April 00:24 CEST, our European Service Module powering NASA’s Orion spacecraft around the Moon! Stay tuned. 🚀

Nearly a millennium ago, astronomers witnessed a supernova so bright it was visible in daylight for weeks.

A quarter-century after its first observations of the expanding remnant, the Crab Nebula, Hubble goes back for a fresh look 👉 esahubble.org/news/heic2607/

🔭 🧪

@thecomicbookshopde.bsky.social @science.esa.int @scifiart.bsky.social @pulplibrarian.bsky.social

Half disc of Saturn seen in colours ranging from pale rose to butterscotch and sapphire blue give this inhospitable gas planet a romantic appeal. Shadows of the rings cross the northern latitudes whose blue colour is presumed to be a seasonal effect. The tiny dot of moon Enceladus hugs the ringplane right of centre.

#OTD 20 years ago, 16 March 2006, Saturn as seen by NASA/ESA/ASI Cassini, with the moon Enceladus hugging Saturn’s ringplane right of centre, from a distance of approx. 2.1 million km from the gas giant (pic: NASA/JPL/SSI) @carolynporco.bsky.social @science.esa.int

ciclops.org/view/1947/Sa...

Fuelling of the Giotto spacecraft in French Guiana, July 1985 (© ESA ECSR)

Mission operations at ESA ESOC, Giotto scientist Gerhard Schwehm in foreground (© ESA ECSR)

It’s almost inconceivable to talk about ESA’s early years without looking at the many firsts that the Giotto mission achieved in 1986, including first cometary encounter and first reactivation of a spacecraft. So that’s exactly what we are doing today 😊

NASA has updated its April launch window calendar for Artemis 2 to include an additional opportunity on the 2nd

NASA says its Artemis 2 moon rocket is all fixed up. It could launch astronauts to the moon on April 1 Rollout to the launch pad is scheduled for March 19.

NASA says its Artemis 2 moon rocket is all fixed up. It could launch astronauts to the moon on April 1 www.space.com/space-explor...

Closeup view of Ariane 6's rocket engine nozzles and bright white exhaust plumes.

One year ago this week! Europe’s newest rocket, Ariane 6, was launched for the second time from Europe’s Spaceport on 6 March 2025 - AWESOME closeup view of VA263's engine nozzles and exhaust plumes on its first commercial flight! (pics: ESA/S.Corvaja)

www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...

The photo is a close-up detail of the payload – the ECS-1 satellite – during preparations for the launch. ESA photographer Simon Vermeer has used the reflective properties of the material to create an almost abstract and visually compelling image, where only the hand gives us an indication of the subject and scale.

#ESAarchives #ObjectOfTheMonth for March looks back at the first satellite in @esa.int's telecommunications programme, ECS-1, launched in 1983. Find out how the development of ECS can be traced back to the late 1960s...

historicalarchives.esa.int#oom @esaconnectivity.esa.int @technology.esa.int