I am a sucker for beautiful space photography so you can imagine I how delighted I was to discover that NASA has recently released an updated high-res version of the famous Blue Marble photograph for 2012.

This is certainly not the first time that NASA has updated the 1972 photograph but the Blue Marble 2012 photograph taken using the VIRS instrument aboard NASA’s most recently launched Earth-observing satellite – Suomi NPP is being called the ‘most amazing high definition image of Earth’ by the space agency.

Blue Marble 2012 is a beautiful composite image using a number of swaths of the Earth’s surface taken on January 4, 2012.  NASA has made this photograph available via their Flickr account where a super high resolution 8000×8000 pixel image can be downloaded – that’s my new desktop wallpaper sorted!  Fascinating.

View full size image on Flickr

All images © Nasa

The fact that space shuttle space travel is now over makes me feel extremely sad.  I personally cannot wait for the the next phase in space exploration and I really hope we don’t have to wait too long.

(via PetaPixel)

You may remember a few weeks ago when space shuttle Endeavour blasted off for the final time and the unique photograph captured by Stefanie Gordon who was in a commercial passenger plane at the time.  Well that photo isn’t quite as unique today as it once was as Ryan Graff has captured a very similar shot of the final mission for space shuttle Atlantis today.

Images © Ryan Graff/Twitpic

It’s interesting to note than these shots were taken with an iPhone 4.  It’s truly wonderful to live in an age where we all have the potential to capture remarkable shots as and when they occur thanks to the ever more capable little cameras in our pockets, travelling with us everywhere we go!  It may be a sad time for the future of space travel but it’s also a massively exciting time for photography.

You can read the full story behind these images including some comments from the photographer, Ryan Graff on the Huffington Post article linked below.

From: The Huffington Post

This stunning photograph of space shuttle Endeavour docked with the International Space Station was taken by Russian astronaut Paolo Nespoli while departing the ISS in a capsule.  The photograph was taken on May 23rd, 2011  but has just been released by NASA along with over 30 more shots.

All images © NASA

The images are all absolutely incredible but considering that this was the final mission for space shuttle Endeavour I have a feeling that we’ll be seeing this particular shot appearing across all forms of media for many years to come!

Take a look at all of the 30+ high quality photographs on the NASA website.

All images © NASA

You can see the full set 30+ stunning photographs on The Atlantic website.

Happy shooting!