Best Space Pictures of the Week - July 28, 2012

Olympic City: London's Lights Seen from Space

NASA Earth Observatory

None of the billions of people expected to watch the 2012 London Olympics will get a view of London quite like this one, which was captured by the Suomi NPP satellite on the night of March 27, 2012. [Full Story]

Landsat Satellites See 40 Years of Earth's Beauty and Strife From Space

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/USGS

The changing face of our planet has been documented in stunning detail over the last 40 years by the longest-running Earth-observing satellite program, called Landsat. [Full Story]

Spectacular Photo of Orion Space Cloud Snapped by Night Sky Observers

Josh Knutson

After seven cold nights, an exhausted astrophotographer captured this beautiful photo of the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. [Full Story]

NASA Telescope Snaps Best-Ever Pictures of Sun's Atmosphere

NASA

A NASA telescope snapped the best-ever images of the sun's million-degree outer atmosphere during a brief spaceflight this month, agency officials say. [Full Story]

Hercules Star Cluster Dazzles in Stargazers' Photo

Bob and Janice Fera

The hundreds of thousands of stars that make the mighty Hercules globular cluster shine bright in this skywatching photo. [Full Story]

Unmanned Russian Supply Ship Fails to Dock at Space Station

NASA

A robotic Russian cargo ship failed to dock at the International Space Station late Monday due to apparent failure in a new rendezvous system, NASA officials say. [Full Story]

Skydiver Leaps from 18 Miles Up in 'Space Jump' Practice

balazsgardi.com/Red Bull Content Pool

A daredevil leapt from a balloon more than 18 miles above the Earth today (July 25), moving one step closer to a so-called "space jump" that would set the record for the world's highest skydive. [Full Story]

Most Massive Stars Live as Vampires in Close Stellar Pairs

ESO/L. Calçada/S.E. de Mink

The universe's most massive stars are rare, but when they are found they likely have companion stars hovering nearby. [Full Story]

San Quentin Prison Inmates Build Tiny Satellite Parts for NASA

NASA

The NASA Ames Research Center is known for establishing innovative partnerships and Pete Worden, the former Air Force general who serves as the Center’s director, is known as a maverick. Still, the latest joint venture to come to light has caught even some longtime NASA observers by surprise. [Full Story]

Apollo Moon Landing Flags Still Standing, Photos Reveal

NASA

Photos from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter prove the American flags planted by Apollo astronauts still stand on the moon. [Full Story]

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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.