NASA headquarters releases its best photos from 2023: See the stunning pictures

The Soyuz rocket is launched with Expedition 70 NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara as well as Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub, Friday, Sept. 15, 2023, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.  (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Jessica Watkins and Robert Hines participate in STEM demonstrations with local students at the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial Library, Thursday, March 30, 2023, in Washington. Lindgren, Watkins and Hines spent 170 days in space as part of Expeditions 67 and 68 aboard the International Space Station. (NASA/Keegan Barber)

The sample return capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission is seen shortly after touching down in the desert, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023, at the Department of Defense's Utah Test and Training Range. The sample was collected from the asteroid Bennu in October 2020 by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft.  (NASA/Keegan Barber)

Support teams work around the SpaceX Dragon Endurance spacecraft shortly after it landed with NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina on board in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Tampa, Florida, Saturday, March 11, 2023. Mann, Cassada, Wakata and Kikina returned after 157 days in space as part of Expedition 68 aboard the International Space Station.  (NASA/Keegan Barber)

Members of the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Flight Operations team are seen operating a helicopter as the sample return capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission is en route to the cleanroom, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023, shortly after the capsule landed at the Department of Defense's Utah Test and Training Range. The sample was collected from the asteroid Bennu in October 2020 by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft.  (NASA/Keegan Barber)

The Russian Search and Recovery Forces All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) team have lunch and prepare for the landing of Expedition 69 NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, Roscosmos cosmonauts Dmitri Petelin and Sergey Prokopyev, Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023, outside Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan. The trio are returning to Earth after logging 371 days in space as members of Expeditions 68-69 aboard the International Space Station. For Rubio, his mission is the longest single spaceflight by a U.S. astronaut in history.  (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket with the Psyche spacecraft onboard is seen as it is rolled out of the horizontal integration facility at Launch Complex 39A as preparations continue for the Psyche mission, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s Psyche spacecraft will travel to a metal-rich asteroid by the same name orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter to study it’s composition. The spacecraft also carries the agency's Deep Space Optical Communications technology demonstration, which will test laser communications beyond the moon.  (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

A letter from a student is seen during a meeting with NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, prior to a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signing ceremony, Wednesday, May 24, 2023, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. The NASA and Department of Education MOU is focused on strengthening the collaboration between the two agencies, including efforts that advance STEM education across the nation.  (NASA/Keegan Barber)

The Soyuz rocket is seen after being rolled out by train to the launch pad at Site 31, Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Expedition 70 NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara, Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub were scheduled to launch aboard their Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft on Sept. 15.  (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

From left to right, CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, plus NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Hammock Koch participate in a media gather, Wednesday, May 17, 2023, outside the Canadian Embassy in Washington. Wiseman, Glover, Koch and Hansen, who will fly around the Moon on NASA’s Artemis II flight test, visited Washington to discuss the upcoming mission with members of Congress and others.  (NASA/Keegan Barber)