This pre-dust storm panoramic mosaic view was one of the last ones taken by NASA’s Opportunity rover and shows the spectacular view from her approximate current position as of June 2018 after traveling halfway down the fluid carved slope of Perseverance Valley – while peering into the interior of vast Endeavour Crater.  This navcam camera photo mosaic was assembled by

This image, taken during the historic Jan. 1, 2019 flyby of Ultima Thule  is the clearest view yet of this remarkable, ancient object in the far reaches of the solar system – and the first small KBO ever explored by a spacecraft.  The image was taken when the KBO was 4,200 miles (6,700 kilometers) from the spacecraft at 12:26 a.m.

SpaceX conducted critical hold down static fire test of first integrated Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon at 4 PM ET, Jan. 24, 2019 for Demo-1 mission raised vertical at historic Launch Complex 39A in Florid, preparing to return human spaceflight capabilities to the United States with 1st uncrewed test flight NET mid-February 2019.  Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com Ken Kremer  —SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM

SpaceX technicians rolled out and raised the integrated Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon vertical on Jan 22, 2019 for Demo-1 mission at historic Launch Complex 39A in Florida ahead critical static fire test planned as soon as Jan. 23 as they preparing to return human spaceflight capabilities to the United States with 1st uncrewed test flight NET mid-February 2019.  Credit:

SpaceX Crew Dragon mock-up sails into Port Canaveral, FL atop the astronaut recovery ship GO Searcher on Jan. 16, 2019. The capsule is seen here atop the deck with hoisting crane on Jan. 19 that will pluck it aboard after Atlantic Ocean splashdowns and return from the ISS. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com Ken Kremer  —SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM –20 January 2019 PORT CANAVERAL,

SpaceX first ‘Starship’ hopper test rocket assembled at Boca Chica facility in South, Texas in Jan. 2019 with a space suited human standing below for scale. Credit: SpaceX/Elon Musk  Ken Kremer  —SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM –19 January 2019 CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – Elon Musk says his new space aerospace firm SpaceX has assembled the first prototype of his ‘Starship’ test flight rocket

On Dec. 31, 2018 NASA’s OSIRIS-Rex spacecraft went into orbit around asteroid Bennu for the first time.  Bennu is the smallest body ever orbited by a spacecraft.   Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona/Lockheed Martin Space Ken Kremer  —SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM –17 January 2019 CAPE CANAVERAL, FL –  Just hours before the stroke of New Years midnight NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft fired its thrusters for

This movie shows propeller-like rotation of Ultima Thule in the seven hours between 20:00 UT (3 p.m. ET) on Dec. 31, 2018, and 05:01 UT (12:01 a.m.) on Jan. 1, 2019, as seen by the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) aboard NASA’s New Horizons as the spacecraft sped toward its close encounter with the Kuiper Belt object at 05:33 UT

This set of images from the Instrument Deployment Camera shows NASA’s InSight lander placing its first instrument – the SEIS seismometer – onto the surface of Mars on Dec. 19, 2018, completing a major mission milestone. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech Ken Kremer  —SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM –14 January 2019 CAPE CANAVERAL, FL –  NASA’s InSight lander has deployed its first instrument onto the surface

SpaceX CRS-16 Dragon cargo ship departs the International Space Station on Jan. 13, 2019 after release from Canadian robotic arm for splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on Jan. 14. Credit: David Saint-Jacques/NASA/CSA Ken Kremer  —SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM –14 January 2019 KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL –  A commercial SpaceX Dragon cargo ship departed the International Space Station (ISS) Sunday evening and safely