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Artemis II Crew and Apollo 14 Moon Tree

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Artemis II Crew and Apollo 14 Moon Tree

The members of the Artemis II mission hold shovels as they stand around a young pine tree. From left to right, they are Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Jeremy Hansen, and Christina Koch. They are all looking down at the tree, which is surrounded by mulch. There is a plaque at the front of the mound of dirt. The grass the crew are standing on extends behind them for several yards.
NASA/James Blair

In this photograph, the Artemis II crew participates in the dedication of the Apollo 14 Moon tree at the Lunar Receiving Park at NASA’s Johnson Space Center on June 25, 2026. This tree is a second-generation Apollo Moon tree of the loblolly pine species. The original Apollo Moon trees were grown from seeds carried aboard Apollo 14 by NASA astronaut Stuart Roosa, a former U.S. Forest Service smoke jumper. Upon return to Earth, the seeds were germinated by the Forest Service, and the resulting seedlings were planted throughout the United States and around the world.

Image credit: NASA/James Blair

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HQ Web Team

July 2026 Satellite Puzzler

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July 2026 Satellite Puzzler

A braided river meanders across the image. Smaller streams empty into the wide channel from either side, forming fan-shaped deposits.

Every month, NASA Earth Observatory features a puzzling satellite image. The July 2026 puzzler appears above. 

Your Challenge
Identify the location shown in this satellite image. Share what clues you see, where you think it is, and what makes this place interesting or unique to you.

How to Answer
Submit your response using this form and select “Puzzler Answer” as the topic. Please include your preferred name or alias.

You can keep it simple and just guess the location. Want to impress us? Tell us which satellite and instrument captured the image, which spectral bands were used, or point out a subtle detail about the geology or history of the area. If something catches your eye, or if this is your home or means something to you, we’d love to hear about it.

The Prize
We can’t offer prize money or a trip to space to see Earth like satellites and astronauts do. But we can offer something almost as rewarding: puzzler bragging rights.

About a week after the challenge, we’ll post the answer at the top of this page, along with a link to an Earth Observatory Image of the Day story that explains the image in more detail. We’ll recognize the first person who correctly guesses the location, and we may also highlight readers who share especially thoughtful or interesting answers. By submitting a response, you acknowledge that your comments may be edited, excerpted, and published on this page.

Until then, zoom in, look closely, and enjoy the challenge. See you at the reveal!

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The World Cup From 250 Miles Up

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The World Cup From 250 Miles Up

 
An aerial view of the San Francisco Bay Area Stadium, middle-left, is surrounded by urban infrastructure. Colorful ponds of the southern San Francisco Bay are visible toward the top.
July 26, 2022

In summer 2026, sixteen stadiums across North America hosted matches as part of the FIFA World Cup. Over the years, astronauts aboard the International Space Station have captured a top-down view of the infrastructure, landscapes, and ecosystems surrounding many of these venues.  

Six of the matches were played at the San Francisco Bay Area Stadium, beginning on June 13 with a match-up between Qatar and Switzerland. This stadium (also called Levi’s Stadium) is located in Santa Clara, California, adjacent to San Jose and around 40 miles (64 kilometers) south of San Francisco. An astronaut aboard the International Space Station took this photo (above) on July 26, 2022.

The stadium, completed in 2014, is surrounded by a mix of recreational, housing, and business infrastructure. The scene includes the southern part of San Francisco Bay, which is 23 years into a 50-year effort to restore up to 90 percent of the region’s salt ponds to tidal wetlands and marshlands, while retaining some of its salt-making heritage.

The Bay Area hosted its sixth and final World Cup match on July 1, when the U.S. faced off against Bosnia and Herzegovina in a knockout match. The U.S. advanced to the round of 16 following a 2-0 win.

An aerial view of the San Francisco Bay Area Stadium, middle-left, is surrounded by urban infrastructure. Colorful ponds of the southern San Francisco Bay are visible toward the top.
April 17, 2022

The FIFA World Cup final is scheduled for July 19 at New York New Jersey Stadium, part of the Meadowlands Sports Complex, in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The stadium (also called MetLife Stadium) sits along the New Jersey Turnpike, west of Midtown Manhattan. Note that north is toward the bottom-right of this photo, captured by an astronaut on April 17, 2022.

The area has seen centuries of human impact. Colonists cleared wetlands and cedar forest for settlements, and development for a range of economic and industrial uses followed. In the 20th century, it became an unregulated dumping ground. In recent decades, though, wetland restoration efforts have occurred alongside the development of the sports and entertainment complex.

Other World Cup host cities have also appeared in astronaut photography and satellite imagery. Guadalajara Stadium (Estadio Akron), Los Angeles Stadium (SoFi Stadium), Houston Stadium (NRG Stadium/Reliant Stadium), and BC Place Vancouver (BC Place) are among the venues that have been observed from above.

Astronaut photograph ISS067-E-202213 was acquired on July 26, 2022, with a Nikon D5 digital camera using a focal length of 400 millimeters, and astronaut photograph ISS067-E-18580 was acquired on April 17, 2022, with a Nikon D5 digital camera using a focal length of 1150 millimeters. They are provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit at NASA Johnson Space Center. The images were taken by a member of the Expedition 67 crew. The images have been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast, and lens artifacts have been removed. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory as part of the ISS National Lab to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth. Story by Kathryn Hansen.

Downloads

An aerial view of the San Francisco Bay Area Stadium, middle-left, is surrounded by urban infrastructure. Colorful ponds of the southern San Francisco Bay are visible toward the top.

July 26, 2022

JPEG (17.97 MB)
An aerial view shows the New York New Jersey Stadium and surrounding Meadowlands on the right, with the dense urban landscape of Manhattan Island centered in the frame.

April 17, 2022

JPEG (3.18 MB)

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Cartilage Engineering, Blood Pressure Studies Kick Off Week Aboard Station

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Cartilage Engineering, Blood Pressure Studies Kick Off Week Aboard Station

NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Chris Williams, both Expedition 74 flight engineers, pose with their spacesuits inside the International Space Station's Quest airlock. The following day, Meir and Williams wore the suits and exited Quest to conduct a seven-hour-and-20-minute spacewalk and replace a malfunctioning wrist joint on the Canadarm2 robotic arm.
NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Chris Williams pose with a pair of spacesuits inside the International Space Station’s Quest airlock.
NASA/Jessica Meir

Cartilage engineering and cardiac research to advance human health on and off the Earth topped Monday’s research schedule aboard the International Space Station. The Expedition 74 crew members also continued spacesuit maintenance and cargo operations aboard the orbital outpost.

NASA flight engineer Jessica Meir was back working inside the Kibo laboratory module’s Life Science Glovebox processing cartilage cell samples to promote their growth in microgravity. NASA flight engineer Jack Hathaway assisted with the biotechnology experiment setting up a fluorescent microscope to view the space-engineered cartilage samples. Meir and Hathaway then packed a selection of samples for preservation in a science freezer and future analysis on Earth. Scientists will analyze the space-grown specimens to learn how to repair and regenerate injured cartilage on Earth and develop advanced fitness techniques for astronauts on a long-term spaceflight.

The duo also joined NASA flight engineer Chris Williams transferring cargo in and out of the Cygnus XL cargo spacecraft from Northrop Grumman. Williams and Meir later worked together collecting hardware from inside the Permanent Multipurpose Module and staging the gear for stowage inside BEAM, the Bigelow Expandable Access Module. Hathaway configured a temporary sleep station being installed in the Columbus laboratory module before three new crew members visit the space station next week.

ESA (European Space Agency) flight engineer Sophie Adenot worked throughout Monday on spacesuit maintenance inside the Quest airlock. Adenot spent a couple of hours cleaning cooling loops inside a pair of spacesuits that Williams and Meir wore during a robotics repair spacewalk on June 30. Hathaway joined Adenot at the end of the job and helped her clean up Quest, place protective covers on the spacesuits, and power down spacewalking systems.

Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev, station commander and flight engineer respectively, partnered together on Monday and studied how weightlessness affects blood flow in the tiny vessels, or the micro-circulatory system. They first attached light-based sensors to their forehead, fingers, and toes. Next, they pointed a laser beam at their skin that interacted with the sensors providing signals measuring their blood flow and distribution. Kud-Sverchkov and Mikaev also explored how living in space affects the respiratory system by wearing an acoustic sensor around their necks that recorded their rapid exhalation.

Flight engineer Andrey Fedyaev spent most of his shift conducting a photographic survey inside the space station’s Roscosmos segment. Fedyaev photo-documented the condition of stowage areas for future usage as well as inventoried items to secure cargo and other hardware.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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Mark A. Garcia

NASA Takes Flight For America’s 250th

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NASA Takes Flight For America’s 250th

NASA/Keegan Barber

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman leads a flyover featuring his personally owned Northrop F-5 Tiger during the Great American State Fair on July 4, 2026, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

For 250 years, America has pushed the boundaries of what’s possible. From the earliest days of exploration, to the first steps on the Moon and the missions shaping our future, NASA represents the spirit of discovery that defines our nation.

As the United States celebrates its semiquincentennial, Freedom 250 highlights how innovation, courage, and scientific leadership have carried America forward — and how NASA continues to expand the frontier for the next generation.

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Dacia Massengill