These are NASA's Photographers of the Year for 2022

It looks like today is all about space photography and space photographers. And if you ask me, I’m not complaining. While we take a break between the first and the rest of the James Webb Telescope’s photos, NASA has another announcement – for the fourth year in a row, its Photographers of the Year have been selected.

The photos are somewhat unusual for those we usually see as contest winners. They give us a glimpse into the NASA scientists’ world, taking us behind the scenes of some of the agency’s most ambitious research projects.

NASA has shared photos of the first, second, and third place in four different categories: Documentation, Portrait, People, and Places. All of them were taken by NASA’s photographers, and considering the different categories, the photos vary in subjects they show. My personal favorites are those from the Portraits and Documentation categories. Of course, you can take a look at all of them below, read a bit more about them, and I leave it to you to choose your favorites.

First place

NASA Astronaut Tom Marshburn is currently in training for the NASA SpaceX Crew-3 mission to the International Space Station. This will be Marshburn’s third spaceflight, having previously flown on the Space Shuttle Endeavour and Soyuz spacecraft. Photo: NASA/Josh Valcarcel, taken with Nikon D850 f/22, 1/125 sec, ISO 200; Portraits category

Test subjects Kelsey Young and Tess Caswell evaluate lunar field geology tasks as part of the Exploration Extravehicular Activity (xEVA) night operations development tests conducted at Johnson Space Center’s Rock Yard. Photographer: Norah Moran – NASA – Johnson; Documentation category

Engineering Technician Ryan Fischer torques the Force Gauge Ring on to the vibe table in preparation for vibration testing of the PACE spacecraft bus at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt Maryland on June 16th, 2021. Photographer: Denny Henry – Goddard Space Flight Center; People category

The Blue Angels crew tour the inlet of the NFAC’s 80-by-120-foot wind tunnel test section in building N221. Photographer: Dominic Hart; Places category

Second place

NASA astronaut Jonny Kim wearing a high-altitude pressure suit worn in the WB-57 aircraft, which is capable of flying at altitudes over 60,000 feet.
Photographer: Norah Moran – NASA – Johnson; People category

xEMU Antenna testing being performed in the B14 Anechoic Chamber to inspect MLI keep out zones for the antennas. The xEMU Test article is named xGUS, the successor to the EMU Test Article also named GUS (named after Gus Grissom and his iconic silver spacesuit). Image taken from where “horn” is located that sends out radio frequency signals for test. Photographer: Norah Moran – Johnson Space Center; Places category

“Less than 20 days before launch and the various teams are focused on a single task, Launch.”
Photo: Chris Gunn; Documentation category

This photo shows a Planetary Protection team member inspecting the Europa Clipper spacecraft. The spacecraft will launch in late 2024 and travel to Jupiter’s Moon Europa. The Planetary Protection team ensures the spacecraft doesn’t bring anything unwanted from earth to Europa that will contaminate the science or planet.
Photo: Denny Henry, People category

Third place

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, spacecraft onboard, is seen during sunrise, Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2021, at Space Launch Complex 4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. DART is the world’s first full-scale planetary defense test, demonstrating one method of asteroid deflection technology. The mission was built and is managed by the Johns Hopkins APL for NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls); Places category

F-15 N897NA Aerials, a selfie inside the F-15 Eagle N897NA fighter aircraft. Photo: Jim Ross; People category

Framed through directional optics glass, Stanley Ikpe is latest of new engineers coming to work at NASA Langley.
Photographer: NASA, David Bowman; Portrait category