The Blood Moon, SpaceX and Mars: The Best Photos from Space April 2014

Nili Patera is one of the most active dune fields on Mars and is continuously monitored by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, with a new image acquired about every six weeks. This most recent one was recorded in March and released on April 30, 2014. NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

This image taken by the right eye of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover's stereoscopic camera, on April 3, 2014, includes a bright spot, upper left, which might be due to the sun glinting off a rock or cosmic rays striking the camera's detector. Bright spots appear in images from the rover nearly every week. NASA/AP

A self-portait taken by Curiosity Rover's Navigation Camera (Navcam) shows a sandstone slab on which the rover team has selected a target, ''Windjana,'' for close-up examination and possible drilling on April 23, 2014.

A self-portait taken by the Curiosity Rover's Navigation Camera (Navcam) on April 23, 2014 shows a sandstone slab on which the rover team has selected a target, ''Windjana,'' for close-up examination and possible drilling.NASA/JPL-Caltech/eyevine/Zuma Press

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover completed a shallow "mini drill" activity on April 29, 2014

NASA's Mars Curiosity rover completed a shallow "mini drill" experiment on April 29, 2014, as part of its preliminary examination of a rock target called "Windjana." The hole in this image is 0.63 inch (1.6 centimeters) in diameter and about 0.8 inch (2 centimeters) deep.NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

A long exposure of ESA's Optical Ground Station (OGS) housing the Lunar Lasercom Optical Ground System (LLOGS) at the La Teide Observatory on Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, released on April 27, 2014.

A long exposure of the European Space Agency's Optical Ground Station (OGS), at the La Teide Observatory on Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, released on April 27, 2014.ESA/EPA

This image released on April 26, 2014 shows Messier 5 (M5), a globular cluster which consists of hundreds of thousands of stars bound together by their collective gravity. M5 is one of the oldest globulars, its stars estimated to be nearly 13 billion years old.NASA/Hubble Space Telescope/ESA/EPA

From open prairie land on the 1625-acre Johnson Space Center site, a JSC photographer took this multi-frame composite image of the so-called "Blood Moon" lunar eclipse in the early hours of April 15, 2014.

From open prairie land on the 1,625-acre Johnson Space Center site, a JSC photographer took this multi-frame composite image of the "Blood Moon" lunar eclipse in the early hours of April 15, 2014. Watch the blood moon lunar eclipse in 9 seconds flat here.NASA/JSC

The Sentinel-1A satellite lifts off from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on April 3, 2014.Stephane Corvaja—ESA/AP

The unmanned Falcon 9 rocket blasts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on April 18, 2014.Kim Shiflett—NASA/Reuters

The SpaceX Dragon capsule is berthed at the International Space Station on April 20, 2014 as photographed by the Expedition 39 crew members onboard the orbital outpost.

The SpaceX Dragon capsule is berthed at the International Space Station on April 20, 2014 as photographed by the ISS crew members.NASA/AP

Astronaut Steve Swanson during a spacewalk to replace a failed backup computer relay box on the International Space Station on April 22, 2014.

NASA astronaut Steve Swanson during a spacewalk to replace a failed backup computer relay box on the International Space Station on April 22, 2014. He was accompanied on the spacewalk by fellow Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio of NASA, who can be seen as a tiny figure anchored several yards away reflected in Swanson's helmet visor.NASA/AP

NASA astronaut Rich Mastracchio aboard the International Space Station takes a selfie during a spacewalk on April 23, 2014. "The space suit makes it very difficult to get a good selfie," he said. "I tried several today."NASA/Zuma Press

This image released on April 14, 2014 shows spiral galaxy NGC 3455, which lies some 65 million light-years away from us in the constellation of Leo (The Lion).

This image released on April 14, 2014 shows the spiral galaxy NGC 3455, which lies some 65 million light-years away from us in the constellation of Leo. Galaxies of this type appear to have a bar of stars slicing through the bulge of stars at their center. ESA/Hubble Telescope/NASA/Acknowledgement: Nick Rose

Bright Galaxy Centaurus A (NASA, Chandra, 04/23/14)Centaurus A is the fifth brightest galaxy in the sky -- making it an ideal target for amateur astronomers -- and is famous for the dust lane across its middle and a giant jet blasting away from the supermassive black hole at its center. Cen A is an active galaxy about 12 million light years from Earth. This image is part of a "quartet of galaxies" collaboration of professional and amateur astronomers that combines optical data from amateur telescopes with data from the archives of NASA missions. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages the Chandra program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Mass., controls Chandra's science and flight operations. Original caption/more images: chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2014/proam/more.html Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: Rolf Olsen; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Centaurus A is the fifth brightest galaxy in the sky is famous for the dust lane across its middle and a giant jet blasting away from the supermassive black hole at its center. It is an active galaxy about 12 million light years from Earth.X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: Rolf Olsen; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech

This composite image of X-rays from Chandra and optical data from Hubble of the galaxy cluster ACT-CL J0102-4915, located about 7 billion light years from Earth, released on April 4, 2014.

This image of the galaxy cluster ACT-CL J0102-4915, located about 7 billion light years from Earth, is a composite of X-ray data from the Chandra telescope and optical data from the Hubble telescope and was released on April 4, 2014. The galaxy has been nicknamed "El Gordo" (or, "the fat one" in Spanish) because of its gigantic mass.NASA/ESA

Ballooning in the constant sun of the South Pole summer

One of NASA's 20 BARREL balloons in Antarctica, where they have been deployed to help unravel the mysterious Van Allen belts, two gigantic donuts of radiation that surround Earth.Brett Anderson—NASA/Goddard/BARREL

Eureka Sound on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic as captured by NASA during an Operation IceBridge survey March 25, 2014 and released on April 8, 2014. IceBridge is a six-year NASA airborne mission which will provide a yearly, multi-instrument look at the behavior of the Greenland and Antarctic ice.NASA/Reuters

Saturn's rings cast shadows on the planet in this image taken by the Cassini spacecraft on Dec. 2, 2013 and released on April 29, 2014.NASA/eyevine/Zuma Press

An X-class flare explodes off the right side of the sun in this image captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory on April 24, 2014.NASA/Reuters

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