NASA Shares Its Best Space Station Photos Of 2022

2022 has been an eventful year for NASA, and it feels as though it has hit a new milestone every other day.

In a year alone, the space agency captured the sharpest, deepest infrared images of the universe using the James Webb Space Telescope, set up a specialized independent squad to study UFOs, launched stem cells into orbit, set off the most powerful rocket toward the moon, snapped the closest images of Jupiter’s moon, and farmed tomatoes aboard the ISS, just to name a few.

It must have been no easy task, but NASA managed to pick its best, science-y space station photos of the year.

Watch the video below to view them all, or head here to browse the photos for yourself. The images are free to download, so feel free to use them for whatever 2022 time capsule you might be working on.

Scroll down for a preview of NASA’s favorite space station photos of 2022. 

NASA astronaut Bob Hines demonstrates how gravity acts with the reach-to-grasp movement. The gesture might not seem like much to earth-dwellers, but it’s one way researchers can better understand how the human body adapts to a microgravity environment.

Astronauts Jessica Watkins and Bob Hines are pictured experimenting with ways to grow plants without traditional soil. The expectation is that hydroponics and aeroponics will pave the way for large-scale crop harvests in space.

A party of six crew members are shown gathering for an evening conference inside the Destiny module, where NASA studies the transport of US payloads.

Astronauts Thomas Marshburn and Mark Vande Hei peer out into Earth through the station’s cupola windows.

Thomas Marshburn, a NASA astronaut and Expedition 66 flight engineer, poses with a color chart and ruler aboard the ISS. These tools will be used to assess how space crew members “use different objects and spaces over time,” the space agency explains. The research could help inform how engineers design future spacecraft and habitats.

[via Digital Trends and NASA, images via NASA]