The Best Spaceflight Images of 2022 - Gizmodo

From long-awaited rocket launches to an unprecedented asteroid encounter, the past 12 months successful spaceflight person been a doozy. The events of 2022 volition beryllium shaping abstraction exploration and commercialization for years to come.

These striking images volition fto you relive the biggest moments of the year, similar the Artemis 1 lunar mission, the DART asteroid deflection test, and the out-of-control Chinese rockets (yes, plural). Good, bad, oregon ugly, these developments produced a wealthiness of memorable imagery.

This image, taken by the Italian-built LICIACube, shows the contiguous aftermath of NASA’s DART spacecraft smashing into the Dimorphos asteroid. The tentacle-like plumes amazed astronomers, but the ngo to deflect an asteroid worked, arsenic DART managed to shove the non-threatening entity by a fewer twelve feet. “Each rectangle represents a antithetic level of opposition successful bid to amended spot good operation successful the plumes,” according to the European Space Agency.

A bolt of lightning struck adjacent NASA’s Space Launch System rocket connected September 12, 2022. This turned retired to beryllium the slightest of NASA’s worries, arsenic Hurricane Ian forced the abstraction bureau to shelter its Artemis 1 rocket wrong the adjacent Vehicle Assembly Building conscionable a fewer weeks later.

A presumption of Boeing’s Starliner CST-100 approaching the ISS connected May 20, 2022. The uncrewed Orbital Flight Test-2 was the first palmy docking of the in-development spacecraft and a large measurement toward its last certification arsenic a crew-rated capsule. A akin ngo volition beryllium attempted successful 2023, this clip with astronauts connected board.

A afloat stacked Starship rocket stands gangly astatine SpaceX’s Starbase installation successful Boca Chica, Texas connected February 10. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk had hoped to motorboat the tremendous rocket successful 2022, but it didn’t happen. When it yet goes up, it’ll beryllium the astir almighty rocket ever launched.

One of respective iconic photos taking during NASA’s palmy Artemis 1 mission. This representation was captured connected November 28—the 13th time of the mission—when the spacecraft was 268,563 miles (432,210 kilometers) distant from Earth.

A gorgeous presumption of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket blasting disconnected connected November 16 from Kennedy Space Center successful Florida.

The megarocket performed flawlessly, sending the Orion spacecraft connected a 25.5-day travel astir the Moon.

NASA’s Orion spacecraft took this parting changeable of Earth a fewer hours into the 25.5-day Artemis 1 mission, erstwhile it was 57,000 miles (91,700 kilometers) from our location planet.

A close-up presumption of Dimorphos, conscionable moments earlier NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test, oregon DART, smashed into the unsuspecting asteroid. Researchers weren’t definite what the aboveground would beryllium similar earlier the probe’s arrival.

The Sun’s dazzling effect connected the Atlantic Ocean is connected afloat show successful this ISS photograph captured connected April 8.

In May, Rocket Lab attempted to drawback an Electron rocket booster with a helicopter. The pilots managed to snag the parachute enactment with a hook, but they opted to driblet it upon noticing “different load characteristics” than those experienced during erstwhile trial flights.

European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti developed a immense pursuing during her clip aboard the ISS, sharing delightful and informative details of her enactment via TikTok. This is specified a large photograph of the Italian astronaut, arsenic I consciousness it captures the joyful tone that she brought to debased Earth orbit.

This is easy my favourite representation from the precocious concluded Artemis 1 mission. It was taken specified moments aft Orion completed its second adjacent lunar flyby and arsenic it regained communications with crushed controllers connected Earth. I virtually gasped erstwhile this unspeakably beauteous celestial presumption appeared connected my screen.

NASA astronauts Bob Hines and Jessica Watkins tin beryllium seen peering retired from the ISS’s cupola, successful this photograph captured connected September 12.

This daunting view, taken beneath a Starship prototype booster, shows each 33 Raptor engines acceptable and rarin’ to go, successful an representation released connected July 2. The SpaceX megarocket is poised to beryllium the astir almighty ever built, exerting an expected 16.7 cardinal pounds of thrust astatine liftoff.

ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer captured this astonishing selfie portion performing a seven-hour spacewalk extracurricular the ISS connected March 23.

SpaceX launched a Falcon Heavy rocket connected November 1, the archetypal formation of the large rocket successful 3 years. The 230-foot-tall motorboat conveyance delivered a secretive payload for the U.S. Space Force to geosynchronous orbit.

More connected this story: Photos Show Launch of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy With Classified Military Payload

Artemis 1 motorboat manager Charlie Blackwell-Thompson stood astatine her console arsenic Artemis teams performed a motorboat simulation connected October 27. Blackwell-Thompson was a awesome of the abstraction agency’s perseverance, patience, and calm, arsenic NASA failed to motorboat SLS connected 2 erstwhile attempts, yet succeeding connected the third.

Orion captured this high-resolution presumption of the lunar aboveground connected December 7, time 20 of the Artemis 1 mission.

NASA’s Lucy probe, en way to sojourn Jupiter’s trojan asteroids, took this saccharine photograph of Earth during a gravitational assistance connected October 15.

Expedition 67 unit members enjoyed a uncommon dainty connected May 27: pizza. Clockwise from near are Denis Matveev, Oleg Artemyev, Sergey Korsakov, Kjell Lindgren, Jessica Watkins, and Samantha Cristoforetti.

This is simply a truly neat presumption of a Falcon 9 rocket flying to space, captured connected January 6. It would beryllium the archetypal of galore specified launches for SpaceX successful 2022, with the backstage institution performing much than 50 flights during the calendar year.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 plume during the NASA Crew-4 motorboat connected April 27.

Hurricane Ian, arsenic seen from the ISS connected September 26. The tempest deed Florida, causing monolithic flooding and much than 100 deaths.

An uncrewed New Shepard rocket went up successful flames during an attempted motorboat connected September 12, grounding the Blue Origin suborbital motorboat vehicle portion the FAA performs a review.

The Orion spacecraft captured this eerie presumption of the Moon during its archetypal adjacent lunar flyby connected November 23.

More connected this story: NASA’s Orion Sends Back Haunting New Views of the Moon’s Tortured Surface

An otherworldly presumption of the SpaceX Dragon Endurance unit vessel approaching the ISS connected October 6. Aboard were NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Koichi Wakata, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina.

No humans flew aboard Orion during Artemis 1, but the capsule did person occupants successful the signifier of three manikins: Campos (pictured), Helga, and Zohar. The Callisto tech demonstration (a communications trial utilizing a customized iPad and Alexa app) besides appears successful this photo, on with the Snoopy zero-gravity indicator, seen floating beneath center.

Italy, including the French land of Corse and Italian islands of Sardinia and Sicily, is intelligibly disposable successful this stunning nighttime photograph from the ISS taken connected July 4.

This February 21 representation shows a Cygnus freighter successful the grip of the Canadarm2 robotic arm. I emotion the clarity of this image, including the contours of the unreality tops below.

Members of the Philippine Coast Guard clasp debris from a Chinese Long March 5B that performed an uncontrolled re-entry connected August 2, causing rocket bits to autumn adjacent populated regions crossed bluish Borneo and parts of the Philippines. It was the archetypal of two uncontrolled March 5B reentries successful 2022.

A presumption of a Russian Soyuz MS-22 rocket taking formation from the Baikonur Cosmodrome successful Kazakhstan connected September 21, 2022. Aboard were NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin.

For SpaceX, what goes up indispensable travel safely down. Here, 2 Falcon 9 archetypal signifier rockets tin beryllium seen performing vertical landings pursuing the motorboat of a Falcon Heavy rocket.

This is the quintessential photograph of Orion making its parachute-assisted descent connected December 11. Looking closely, you tin spot that the capsule, which endured temperatures successful excess of 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit during reentry, is inactive steaming hot. Orion splashed down adjacent Baja, California, ending the historical Artemis 1 mission.