Comet Lovejoy from the ISS

International Space Station Commander Dan Burbank capturedthis spectacular imagery of Comet Lovejoy, viewed from about 240 miles above the Earth's horizon on December 21. The astronauts were over Tasmania, just before sunrise. Two days later, the station received three new crew members. Follow astronaut Don Pettit's blog at blogs.airspacemag.com/pettit. Source: NASA (1:55)

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Preview thumbnail for video'Chris Hadfield On the Asteroid Threat

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Preview thumbnail for video'Excerpt:

In this clip from the 1967 Soviet movie A Cruise to the Stars, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin is shown training for his historic mission as engineers test various systems of the Vostok capsule. Accepting the task before him, Gagarin tells space officials that if he encounters any difficulties in space, I will overcome them as the communists do. On launch day, April 12, 1961, Chief Designer Sergei Korolev radios his best wishes as Gagarin takes off. After his 108-minute flight, Gagarin becomes an international sensation, with parades and celebrations in his honor.A Cruise to the Stars, which runs 52 minutes, was made to commemorate the first 10 years of the Soviet space program. We do not consider the conquest of space as the achievement of only our people but as that of all mankind, the narrator says. We happily place it at the disposal of all nations and peoples in the name of progress, happiness, and welfare of all men.

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Preview thumbnail for video'STS-1: The First Shuttle Landing

Before John Young and Robert Crippens STS-1 mission in April 1981, no astronauts had ever landed a spaceship on a runway. In their postflight briefing, Young (the first voice in this clip) and pilot Crippen describe their first-time return of a shuttle from orbit, during which the vehicle executed a series of S-turns, or roll reversals, like a skier slaloming downhill to manage speed.

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Preview thumbnail for video'Intelsat Rescue

It was a scene straight out of Apollo 13astronauts and ground controllers working together to improvise a new plan when Plan A had failed. The task on Endeavour's first flight in May 1992 was to capture the stranded INTELSAT-VI satellite, attach a new rocket motor, and send it to a new orbit. But when early attempts to grab the satellite with a special "capture bar" failed, Pierre Thuot, Rick Hieb and Tom Akers had to go outside and steady the 9,200-pound spacecraft by handthe first and only three-man spacewalk in shuttle history.

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Preview thumbnail for video'STS-51A: Life on a Small Spaceship

In the early days of the shuttle program, NASA wasnt sure how crews of five, six, and seven people would fare in the limited space of the orbiter. Here the crew of STS-51A, who flew in November 1984, give a tour of the upper and lower decks. Onboard were Rick Hauck, Dave Walker, Joe Allen, Anna Fisher, and Dale Gardner. Allen, who had been an astronaut since 1967 but hadnt flown until 1982, was making his second flight.

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Preview thumbnail for video'To Space and BackTrailer

The new theater system in the National Air and Space Museums Einstein Planetarium is such a dramatic upgrade that only a few of the currently available films can make use of its full definition. To Space & Back, which opens in mid-August 2014, is one of them. (Video: Courtesy of Sky-Skan and the Franklin Institute)

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Preview thumbnail for video'SOFIA Opens Its Door

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Preview thumbnail for video'NASA Lifting Body Crash, 1967

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Preview thumbnail for video'Flight of the Pongsats

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