You Can Search NASA’s Entire Photo Archive on This Easy-to-Use Website

DL Cade

NASA just launched an updated Image and Video Library website that puts the entire NASA photo archive at your fingertips, just one keyword search away. Our apologies to your productivity… you’re about to do some serious procrastinating.

The newly updated site makes finding images from NASA’s archives orders of magnitude easier. You no longer have to know whether to go digging in the Hubble archives, or the JPL archives, or the Cassini archives, or some other repository of amazing imagery from NASA’s past and present.

Nope, just go to images.NASA.gov, type in your search, and select Images, Videos, Audio, or any combination of the above:

The website really is as easy to use as you imagine. A quick search of Apollo 11 revealed everything from iconic moon landing photos, to command center audio of the launch, to more recent public appearances by Buzz Aldrin and the burial at sea of the late, great Neil Armstrong.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Once you’ve decided on a search term and typed it in, results can be filtered by type of media (Image, Video, or Audio) and date taken so you can zero in on the photograph or artist rendition you’re looking for. And when you find that image, you can download it or access the full res URL.

It’s difficult to overstate just how cool this resource is. A treasure trove of imagery awaits anybody who is willing to take the time and start digging through the archives.

Here are a few of our favorites from about 15 minutes spent typing in different search terms and scrolling:

Expedition 31 flight engineer Don Pettit, with only his head visible above a shroud, is photographed in the Cupola Module. Window shutters are closed, and still cameras are positioned in front of each window
A startling silhouette of Saturn is created in this NASA Cassini spacecraft portrait.
NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, Expedition 32 flight engineer, appears to touch the bright sun during the mission’s third session of extravehicular activity (EVA). During the six-hour, 28-minute spacewalk, Williams and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Aki Hoshide (visible in the reflections of Williams’ helmet visor), flight engineer, completed the installation of a Main Bus Switching Unit (MBSU) that was hampered last week by a possible misalignment and damaged threads where a bolt must be placed. They also installed a camera on the International Space Station’s robotic arm, Canadarm2.
Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin,Lunar Module (LM) pilot, poses for a photo beside the U.S. flag that has been placed on the moon. The LM is visible in the left field of view. Numerous footprints and the cable of the surface television camera are visible on the lunar surface in the foreground. Image taken at Tranquility Base during the Apollo 11 Mission. Original film magazine was labeled S. Film Type: Ektachrome EF SO168 color film on a 2.7-mil Estar polyester base taken with a 60mm lens. Sun angle is Medium. Tilt direction is South (S).
The huge, 363-feet tall Apollo 11 (Spacecraft 107/Lunar Module S/Saturn 506) space vehicle is launched from Pad A, Launch Complex 39, Kennedy Space Center (KSC), at 9:32 a.m. (EDT), July 16, 1969. Onboard the Apollo 11 spacecraft are astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, command module pilot; and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot.
Apollo 11 Onboard Photo: Astronaut Aldrin makes first step onto the surface of the moon.
Earth observation taken during a night pass by the Expedition 49 crew aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
Resembling the fury of a raging sea, this image actually shows a bubbly ocean of glowing Hydrogen gas and small amounts of other elements. Photo taken by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope.
The camera is reflected in his helmet visor as Extravehicular crewmember 1 (EV1) Jeff Williams takes a self-portrait during Extravehicular Activity 36 (EVA 36).

Whether you’re interested in the Apollo program, International Space Station photographs, or the newest photos from the unmanned missions to Saturn and Jupiter, it’s all just a keyword search away. The word ‘Cuploa’ alone brings up 929 image results…

Again, our apologies to your productivity.

(via VICE)

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