This timelapse video was made to look beyond the intrinsic beauty of NASA’s pictures taken from the International Space Station , and use them to tell a story and share the messages sent by the astronauts who worked on the station in the last 11 years.

The story tells about a group of pioneer astronauts, working on the ISS to open a Gateway to space for all humankind. Their static filled voices tell the story of exploration while a day passes on Earth, from dawn to sunset. They are aware that what they are building can’t be of any use for mankind until the people on Earth understand that they must think without borders, promoting cooperation between nations. This is what the astronauts learned by working together and watching our Planet from above.

The astronauts send their wishes to the people down on Earth, their last thoughts fading out as they are flying above an aurora borealis and the lights of the European cities. Then, suddenly, a burst of light and the Gateway to Space is opened.

The ISS gains speed, flying faster and faster to the stars, the astronauts ready to leave our planet, which they see getting smaller and spinning faster and faster, melting borders, oceans and people together, ready to follow them, further up into space.

The focus of the video was on the workflow on colors and harmony of movements, syncing every frame with the music and the voices of the astronauts. Every picture has been post processed individually before being imported in the NLE software, in an attempt to take the most out of every image in terms of colors, contrast and neatness.

Enjoy the video with it's beautiful message to all those on Earth, especially significant during this holiday season.


Further Up Yonder from Giacomo Sardelli on Vimeo.

Not every NASA video is a winner. Case in point: the Agency's comically lame astronaut recruitment video.

But this video? This video is excellent. Probably because it was produced by the folks at NASA's Goddard Multimedia team, who have a proven track record when it comes to mind-blowingly awesome space media.

This particular featurette, titled Pursuit of Light, really captures what NASA is all about: big questions and big ideas. Under just about any other circumstances, NASA's tag line of "It's six minutes from Earth to forever, and you can see it here!" would sound corny. But here, it couldn't be more fitting.

Perhaps more than all other federal agencies, NASA tells stories about big things: big places, big data, big ideas. Using extraordinarily high resolution data sets from some of the most innovative and powerful scientific instruments ever built, the media team at NASA Goddard presents PURSUIT OF LIGHT. The presentation showcases top level goals of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, with an eye toward capturing the imagination of mainstream audiences.
Stars afire, the endless void recedes.

credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
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In an interview with Time magazine, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson was asked the question: "What is the most astounding fact you can share with us about the universe?"

The famed scientist and author gives an answer that is perhaps as eloquent as it is mind-blowing; as beautiful as it is sublime.

It's best to hear Tyson's response in the video, but his answer is perhaps best revealed in one particular quote:

"We are part of this universe; we are in this universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts, is that the universe is in us," he explains.

"Many people feel small because they're small and the universe is big, but I feel big," he says.

In the clip above, video editor Max Schlickenmeyer ties the insights together with breathtaking visuals to create a powerful representation of the science behind Tyson's answer .

Learn more about Tyson's revelation by watching the video above and the full interview below. Afterwards, be sure to share your reaction in the comments section.
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Ten years ago on March 1, the European Space Agency launched an 8-ton satellite called Envisat that would deliver back to Earth some of the most beautiful images of our planet taken from space.

Since then, Envisat has orbited Earth more than 50,000 times and has lived twice as long as planned.

The satellite has more than seven instruments on board that can use radar to see through clouds, capture ocean color and land cover, monitor the ozone layer and atmospheric pollutants, measure thermal-infrared radiation, and register surface topography.

To celebrate the satellite's 10th anniversary, we've selected a few of its most beautiful images for this gallery. Good luck deciding which one to use as wallpaper for your computer desktop.

Von Karmen Vortices

This false-color Envisat image, acquired on June 6, 2010, highlights a unique cloud formation south of the Canary Island archipelago, some 95 km from the northwest coast of Africa (right) in the Atlantic Ocean. Seven larger islands and a few smaller ones make up the Canaries; the larger islands are (left to right): El Hierro, La Palma, La Gomera, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote.

Ireland

Resembling the brush strokes of French Impressionist Claude Monet, electric blue-colored plankton blooms swirl in the North Atlantic Ocean off Ireland in this Envisat image. Plankton, the most abundant type of life found in the ocean, are microscopic marine plants that drift on or near the surface of the sea.

While individually microscopic, the chlorophyll they use for photosynthesis collectively tints the surrounding ocean waters, providing a means of detecting these tiny organisms from space with dedicated "ocean color" sensors, like Envisat's Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS), which acquired this image on May 23, 2010 at a resolution of 300 m.

Kamchatka Peninsula

This image, acquired by Envisat's Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) instrument on Nov. 12, 2009, captures the rugged and remote Kamchatka Peninsula on Russia's East Coast. The 1,250-km long peninsula lies between the Pacific Ocean to the east and the Sea of Okhotsk to the west.
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Phytoplankton Bloom

In this Envisat image, acquired on Dec. 2, 2011, a phytoplankton bloom swirls a figure-of-8 in the South Atlantic Ocean about 600 km east of the Falkland Islands. Different types and quantities of phytoplankton exhibit different colors, such as the blues and greens in this image.