--- title: National Parks: See Satellite Images From Space description: On the 100th anniversary of the National Park service, we take a unique view of some of our most beloved and treasured parks. canonical: https://time.com/4459379/national-parks-space-nps-birthday-centennial/ author: Marisa Gertz article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-25T10:00:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:59:35.386Z article:section: Science og:title: See Breathtaking Views of the National Parks From Space og:description: On their 100th birthday og:url: https://time.com/4459379/national-parks-space-nps-birthday-centennial/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ca20e99b23a562a/6988a2ff428a9e1907cd3f6f/national-parks-space-maunaloa.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Volcanoes National Park, Jan.18, 2014 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See Breathtaking Views of the National Parks From Space twitter:description: On their 100th birthday twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ca20e99b23a562a/6988a2ff428a9e1907cd3f6f/national-parks-space-maunaloa.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See Breathtaking Views of the National Parks From Space on Their 100th Birthday by [Marisa Gertz](https://time.com/author/marisa-gertz/) ## Marisa Gertz Aug 25, 2016 10:00 AM UTC  Volcanoes National Park, Jan.18, 2014 Volcanoes National Park, Jan.18, 2014Jesse Allen—NASA by [Marisa Gertz](https://time.com/author/marisa-gertz/) ## Marisa Gertz Aug 25, 2016 10:00 AM UTC America’s [National Park Service](https://www.nps.gov/subjects/centennial/index.htm) (NPS) celebrates its 100th birthday on Aug. 25\. From Aug. 25 to Aug. 28, parks across the country will be offering free entry, along with everything from solar-powered vehicle races to classical music performances to outdoor naturalization ceremonies. Famously called “the best idea we ever had” by writer [Wallace Stegner](http://time.com/4389075/our-backyard-is-85-million-acres/), the [NPS](https://www.nps.gov/americasbestidea/templates/timeline.html) was founded in 1916 by an act of Congress in order to conserve and protect America’s natural wonders. Today, the [NPS](https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/faqs.htm) oversees over 84 million acres, which were visited by over 300 million people last year. [NASA’s Earth Observatory](http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/NationalParksClimate/) has been collecting satellite images of these national treasures for years, as part of its earth science mission. NASA has established the Landscape Climate Change Vulnerability Project as a way to use the data being collected by satellites to help the parks adapt to [climate change](http://time.com/4447252/greenland-ice-climate-change/). “In many cases, National Parks were created to protect the remaining forests and their ecosystems from further destruction and fragmentation,” writes NASA’s Kathryn Hansen. “But changes in temperature, rainfall (or snow), and atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide could eventually do as much to remake the forests as humans did with saws and fires and bulldozers.”  Volcanoes National Park, Jan.18, 2014 Jesse Allen—NASA  Biscayne National Park, Feb. 25, 2016 Jesse Allen—NASA  Katmai National Park, Sept. 23, 2014 Jesse Allen—NASA  Shenandoah National Park, Oct. 13, 2010 Jesse Allen—NASA  Zion National Park, June 1, 2016 Jesse Allen—NASA  Big Bend National Park, March 21, 2016 Jesse Allen—NASA  Yosemite National Park, Aug. 18, 2015 Jesse Allen—NASA  Hot Springs National Park, Jun. 13, 2013 Jesse Allen—NASA  Yellowstone National Park, June 9, 2013 Jesse Allen—NASA  Grand Teton National Park, June 15, 2015 Jesse Allen—NASA  Olympic National Park, Feb. 22, 2015 Jesse Allen—NASA  Acadia National Park, Sept. 6, 2015 Jesse Allen—NASA  Redwood National Park, Feb. 6, 2003 Jesse Allen—NASA ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4459379/national-parks-space-nps-birthday-centennial/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4459379/national-parks-space-nps-birthday-centennial/"},"headline":"See Breathtaking Views of the National Parks From Space on Their 100th Birthday","datePublished":"2016-08-25T10:00:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:59:35.386Z","description":"Yosemite, Redwood, and other famous parks as seen from space","url":"https://time.com/4459379/national-parks-space-nps-birthday-centennial/","keywords":["nature","Space","Science topic","photography","America","National Parks","landscape"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ca20e99b23a562a/6988a2ff428a9e1907cd3f6f/national-parks-space-maunaloa.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Marisa Gertz","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/marisa-gertz/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ca20e99b23a562a/6988a2ff428a9e1907cd3f6f/national-parks-space-maunaloa.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Volcanoes National Park, Jan.18, 2014","caption":"Volcanoes National Park, Jan.18, 2014","creditText":"Jesse Allen—NASA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/nature/","name":"nature"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4459379/national-parks-space-nps-birthday-centennial/","name":"See Breathtaking Views of the National Parks From Space on Their 100th Birthday"}}]}] ```