Hematite is a mineral form of iron oxide (Fe2O3) requiring large amounts of water or volcanic activity to develop and is often used in jewelry. This picture taken by Mars Opportunity rover shows hematite spherules, also referred to as “blueberries”, on the red planet. These hematite spherules are all over the surface of Mars, north of the Victoria Crater.
This 1973 picture is a polaroid of the TV screen from the Skylab space station’s Extreme Ultraviolet monitor. Taken by astronaut Owen Garriott of the Skylab 3 mission, this system had finally allowed humans to view the Sun’s image in the extreme ultraviolet radiation emitted from the corona (its extremely hot outer atmosphere). The picture was taken with a Land-Polaroid SX-70 camera and was the first time that this iconic Polaroid camera was used in space.
This December 21, 1973 black and white picture of the Comet Kohoutek was taken from the Skylab space station while in Earth orbit, by a Skylab 4 mission astronaut.
This is one of the first views of Mars as photographed by the Viking 2 lander in 1976. The trenches dug by Viking to analyze sub-surface samples (middle of picture) and the foot pad of the lander (lower right) are visible. But what is the circled cylindrical object? A part from the Viking 2 lander? It doesn’t look like the rest of the rocks in this Martian landscape.
The iconic Canadarm (formerly known as Shuttle Remote Manipulator System) being deployed by the space shuttle Endevour (STS 77) during a 1996 mission conducting Spacelab experiments. In the background is a chance solar starburst pattern. The Canadarm is a “robotic arm” that was designed and built by SPAR Aerospace in Montreal and first delivered to NASA in 1981. Canadarm2 followed this original SRMS system and continues to be used on the International Space Station (ISS). It is now built by MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) of Canada.
