NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC'S BEST SPACE PICTURES THIS WEEK XLIII

Week's Best Space Pictures: Curiosity Drills, a Rocket Soars, and Dragon Docks
By Brian Clark Howard, National Geographic News, 16 January 2015.

Photos from Mars, Earth, and the International Space Station reveal exciting moments in space exploration, in this week's best space pictures.

1. Drill Test

Partly a selfie, this wide-angle image reveals NASA's Curiosity Mars rover hard at work on the red planet. The rover's drill is seen moving into position for a test on a rock that scientists have named Mojave.

If the rock proves drillable, the rover will cut deeper and retrieve a sample for analysis. The image was made on January 13 during the 867th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars.

The rock is in the Pink Hills region on Mount Sharp, another part of which is visible on the horizon. Planetary scientists are interested in the area because it appears to hold unusual crystal-shaped material. (Watch a video of Curiosity's dramatic landing.)

Curiosity blasted off from Earth on November 26, 2011, and landed on Mars's Gale Crater on August 6, 2012.

2. Space Shot

The unmanned SpaceX Dragon CRS-5 spacecraft blasts off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on January 10. The cargo supply vessel successfully docked with the International Space Station two days later.

The spacecraft ferried 5,000 pounds (2,268 kilograms) of supplies to astronauts living in orbit. It's the seventh flight for the uncrewed Dragon cargo spacecraft, which NASA is using for resupply missions under a contract with SpaceX, a private company.

In an unusual effort, rocket scientists had attempted to recover part of the craft's engine for reuse by landing it on a barge in the ocean. The result was "close but no cigar."

3. Preparing to Dock

Astronaut Butch Wilmore captured this image of the SpaceX Dragon CRS-5 spacecraft just before it docked with the International Space Station on January 12.

In 2012, the Dragon became the first commercial spacecraft to deliver cargo to the space station and return cargo safely to Earth. SpaceX is now retooling the spacecraft to also ferry human beings. The first manned test flight is expected in two to three years. (Read about another SpaceX mission.)

4. Care Packages

Flight engineer Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency (ESA) took this photograph of a colleague unpacking supplies from the docked Dragon spacecraft on the International Space Station. Among the goods are supplies for medical experiments in space. (See striking pictures from the space station.)

5. Martian Landscape

This high-resolution NASA image shows Mojave Crater on Mars, an area of special interest to scientists because it may have seen a major rain event in the past. Rain is thought to have long been quite rare on the red planet, but scientists are searching for evidence. (Learn about snow on Mars.)

Photo gallery by Nicole Werbeck.

[Source: National Geographic News. Edited. Some links added.]