An unpiloted ISS Progress resupply vehicle approaches the International Space Station for docking on Nov. 2, 2011. The vehicle is carrying 1,653 pounds of propellant, 110 pounds of oxygen, 926 pounds of water and 3,108 pounds of maintenance gear, spare parts, experiment hardware and resupply items for the space station.

This image from NASA’s Aqua satellite on October 30, 2011 at 11:30 a.m.  shows snowfall  along the U.S. East coast from a Halloween weekend Nor’easter that spread snow from West Virginia to Maine. The snow can be seen blanketing the ground, while clouds remain off-shore over the Atlantic Ocean. (Source: NASA/Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Team)

On April 12, 1981, the space shuttle Columbia lifts off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for the first flight of the space shuttle fleet.  Aboard STS-1 were astronauts John W. Young, flight commander, and Robert L. Crippen, flight pilot.  (Source: NASA)

This photographed of the Southeastern United States was taken by the crew of Expedition 29 from the International Space Station on Oct. 18, 2011. The image is centered near Atlanta and the Florida peninsula is visible under clouds in the to right.

C-130J “Super” Hercules from the Air Force 37th Airlift Squadron out of Ramstein Air Base fly in formation over southern Germany on Oct. 5, 2011. The aircraft were participating in European training exercise. (Source: U.S. Air Force/Senior Airman Stephen J. Otero)

A KC-135 Stratotanker from the 121st Air Refueling Wing in Columbus, Ohio, prepares to refuel a C-17 Globemaster III from the 437th Airlift Wing at Joint Base Charleston, S.C., on Oct. 3, 2011. (Source: U.S. Air Force/Tech. Sgt. DeNoris A. Mickle)

The green in this image captured on Oct. 5, 2011, is the worst algae bloom Lake Erie has experienced in decades. The bloom is primarily microcystis aeruginosa, an algae that is toxic to mammals, according to the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory. Several days of calm winds and warm temperatures allowed the algae to gather on the surface. Such blooms were common in the 1950s and 60s when phosphorus from farms, sewage, and industry fertilized the waters. The blooms subsided starting in the 1970s, when improvements in agriculture and sewage treatment limited the amount of phosphorus that reached the lake. But this year a giant bloom spread across the western basin once again. The reasons for the bloom are complex, but may be related to a rainy spring and invasive mussels. (Source: NASA/Landsat-5)

This image captured by the Aqua satellite on Oct. 9, 2011, shows the blue of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron caused by sediment brought to the surface from strong winds churning the lakes and the green of Lake Erie and in Lake Huron’s Saginaw Bay caused by algae, which builds when winds are calm. Sediment often colors the Great Lakes in the spring and fall when transitioning weather patterns bring storms and strong winds. (Source: NASA)

This natural-color image of Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve was captured on Sept. 15, 2000, by the Landsat 7 satellite and shows the 6-mile Aniakchak caldera in the middle of the image.  The southern rim of the caldera casts a blue-gray shadow on nearby snow and ice.  A lake can bee seen near the caldera’s northeastern margin. Vegetation is scarce immediately around the caldera, but farther away the slopes are green. The caldera formed about 3,500 years ago when an explosive eruption blew out roughly 3,000 feet of overlying mountain. More recent volcanic activity has pockmarked the caldera with cinder cones and lava flows. (Source: NASA)

This image of  star cluster NGC 281, known as the Pacman Nebula, was taken by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory and was released in September 2011. The cluster is about 9,200 light years from Earth and sits almost 1,000 light years above the plane of the Milky Way Galaxy, giving astronomers a clear view of the star formation within it.  (Source: NASA/CXC/CfA/JPL/S.Wolk)