NASA has announced the winners of its annual Photographer of the Year competition. From meditative portraits of astronauts through to rockets ready to rock, the contest pays tribute to the space agency’s in-house photographic talent.
The fourth running of the contest included four categories: Documentation, Portrait, People, and Places. All photos were taken in 2021 by photographers who work at NASA. The overall winners in these categories, and also the second and third place finishers, were announced via Twitter last week.
NASA astronaut Thomas Marshburn
NASA photographer Josh Valcarel was awarded top prize in the Portrait category for this black-and-white photo of NASA astronaut Thomas Marshburn. The astronaut reached low Earth orbit last year during NASA’s SpaceX Crew-3 mission to the International Space Station.
Walking on the simulated Moon
This first-place photo in the Documentation category shows Kelsey Young and Tess Caswell performing lunar field geology work at Johnson Space Centre’s Rock Yard, which simulates ground conditions on the Moon. The development tests, done at night, are part of NASA’s Exploration Extravehicular Activity (xEVA) project.
Tuning a “vibe table”
This first-place photo in the People category by Denny Henry shows Ryan Fischer, an engineering technician at NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre in Greenbelt, Maryland, torquing a force gauge ring onto a vibe table. The device was used during vibration testing of the PACE spacecraft bus. It’s hardly a glamour shot, but it captures an important side of NASA that’s rarely seen.
Wind tunnel majesty
Dominic Hart captured this stunning view of the National Full-Scale Aerodynamic Complex, which measures 36.5 metres tall and 24 metres wide. The group seen at the base of the complex is none other than members of the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels flight demonstration team. The photo earned Hart top prize in the Places category.
NASA astronaut Jonny Kim
This second-place Portrait photo shows Jonny Kim in his high-altitude pressure suit. The NASA astronaut wore the suit while inside a WB-57 aircraft, which can fly to altitudes in excess of 18.3 kilometres.
Space suit antenna testing
This surreal second-place Places photo shows a prototype of a future space suit, known as xEMU, undergoing antenna testing inside the B14 Anechoic Chamber. This particular suit is known as xGUS, in honour of NASA astronaut Gus Grissom.
Fly like an eagle
NASA photographer Jim Ross earned a third place People prize for this wild shot of an unnamed NASA pilot riding alongside an F-15 Eagle N897NA.
DART prelaunch
This third-place photo in the Places category shows a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, spacecraft on top. NASA photographer Bill Ingalls captured the photo on the morning of November 23, 2021, at Space Launch Complex 4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The DART probe is currently en route to Dimorphos, where it will deliberately crash into the asteroid as part of a redirection test.
Folded Webb
NASA photographer Chris Gunn captured this view of the Webb Space Telescope while it was still folded up in the cleanroom at Northrop Grumman, in Redondo Beach, California. Webb is now entering into the science phase of the mission and already capturing some spectacular views of the cosmos.