This article was originally written by Dean Murray for SWNS — the U.K.’s largest independent news agency, providing globally relevant original, verified, and engaging content to the world’s leading media outlets.
The winners of NASA’s seventh annual Photographer of the Year awards are in. The out-of-this-world images all offer scenes of the space agency’s activities captured by staff photographers on Earth in 2024. Pictures were selected across four categories: Documentation, Portrait, People, and Places.
The winner in the Places category is the striking shot above, titled “Blue Supermoon Rises Over the ‘Rocket City.’” It was taken by NASA photographer Michael DeMocker in Huntsville, Alabama, which is nicknamed the “Rocket City” as it houses NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. The image depicts a moon that’s both a supermoon, meaning it’s one of the largest and brightest full moons of the year, and a seasonal blue moon, i.e. the third full moon in a season with four.
NASA astronaut Nichole “Vapor” Ayers at the NASA Johnson Space Center photo studio.
Other highlights include moody portraits of astronauts Nichole “Vapor” Ayers and Zena Cardman and a quirky documentary photograph of a simulated moonwalk in Northern Arizona. Another standout is a shot of NASA astronaut Andre Douglas raising an American flag during a weeklong field test alongside astronaut Kate Rubins.
Scroll through more of the award-winning shots.
NASA astronaut Andre Douglas and NASA astronaut Kate Rubins during their first simulated moonwalk.
NASA astronaut Zena Cardman at the NASA Johnson Space Center photo studio.
NASA astronaut Andre Douglas wears an augmented reality display technology during a nighttime advanced technology run.
Production photography of lunar terrain vehicle ground test unit.
Engineers and technicians from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center crawl under the PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) spacecraft.
Chris Henze demonstrates the newly upgraded hyperwall visualization system.
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