Best Space Photos of the Week - Feb. 22, 2014

Model Kate Upton Floats in Weightlessness

Sports Illustrated

Model Kate Upton floats in weightlessness during a photo shoot for Sports Illustrated's 2014 swimsuit issue. Image uploaded Feb. 18, 2014. [Read the full story here.]

Curiosity's View of Conquered Martian Dune

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

This look back at a dune that NASA's Curiosity Mars rover drove across was taken by the rover's Mast Camera (Mastcam) during the 538th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars (Feb. 9, 2004). [Read the full story here.]

Global Positioning System (GPS) IIF-5 Satellite Launch

United Launch Alliance

A United Launch Alliance Delta IV lifts off on Feb. 20, 2014, from Space Launch Complex-37 with the Air Force's Global Positioning System (GPS) IIF-5 satellite. This launch marked the 25th Delta IV flight since the first flight in 2002. [Read the full story here.]

LADEE Star Tracker Images of Lunar Terrain

NASA Ames

NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) observatory successfully downlinked images of the moon and stars taken by onboard camera systems, known as star trackers. The image shown here was acquired on Feb. 8, 2014. [See the full gallery here.]

First Map of Radioactivity in Supernova Remnant

NASA/JPL-Caltech/CXC/SAO

This is the first map of radioactivity in a supernova remnant, the blown-out bits and pieces of a massive star that exploded. The blue color shows radioactive material mapped in high-energy X-rays using NASA's NuSTAR space observatory. [Read the full story here.]

Chandra Pulsar Longest X-ray Jet

X-ray: NASA/CXC/ISDC/L.Pavan et al, Radio: CSIRO/ATNF/ATCA Optical: 2MASS/UMass/IPAC-Caltech/NASA/NSF

This image, released on Feb. 18, 2014, shows a jet spanning 37 light years shooting from a pulsar. The picture contains data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory in purple.

Cygnus Cargo Craft Undocks from ISS

NASA TV

A monitor on the robotics workstation in the cupola provides the Expedition 38 crew with a view of Cygnus at the end of the International Space Station's robotic arm. Image released Feb. 18, 2014. [Read the full story here.]

Stars' Clockwork Motion Captured in Nearby Galaxy

NASA, ESA, A. Feild and Z. Levay (STScI), Y. Beletsky (Las Campanas Observatory), and R. van der Marel (STScI)

This photo illustration shows Hubble measurements of the rotation of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), the nearest visible galaxy to our Milky Way. The LMC appears in the Southern Hemisphere's night sky. Image released Feb. 18, 2014. [Read the full story here.]

Mars Rover Opportunity, February 2014

NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

This image was taken with the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on Feb. 14, 2014. The red arrow points to the Mars rover Opportunity, while the blue arrows highlight the tracks left by the rover since it entered the area in October 2013. [Read the full story here.]

Robonaut 2 Telemedicine Training with Doctor

NASA

NASA's Robonaut 2 and Dr. Zsolt Garami, of the Houston Methodist Research Institute, practice telemedicine techniques during a test of the robot's bedside manner. This image is a still from a NASA video documenting the Robonaut 2 test. [Read the full story here.]

Dione's Wispy Appearance

NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Cassini spacecraft spied Saturn's moon, Dione, at a distance of approximately 554,000 miles (892,000 kilometers). Image released Feb. 17, 2014. [See our Image of the Day gallery.]

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Space.com is the premier source of space exploration, innovation and astronomy news, chronicling (and celebrating) humanity's ongoing expansion across the final frontier. Originally founded in 1999, Space.com is, and always has been, the passion of writers and editors who are space fans and also trained journalists. Our current news team consists of Editor-in-Chief Tariq Malik; Editor Hanneke Weitering, Senior Space Writer Mike Wall; Senior Writer Meghan Bartels; Senior Writer Chelsea Gohd, Senior Writer Tereza Pultarova and Staff Writer Alexander Cox, focusing on e-commerce. Senior Producer Steve Spaleta oversees our space videos, with Diana Whitcroft as our Social Media Editor.