Week in Images

What are the parts of the Soyuz Rocket? What are the stages into orbit? What is the launch sequence? Watch and find out. This video has been produced from an actual lesson delivered to the ESA astronaut class of 2009 (also known as the #Shenanigans09) during their ESA Basic Training in 2009-2010.

A very young star, RNO 91, is being born in the guts of the dark cloud LDN 43, 520 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Ophiuchus. The newborn star is hidden in this image, revealed only by light reflected onto the plumes of the dark cloud. A dusty, icy disc surrounding it may host planet embryos.

This image is based on data gathered by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. A version of this image was entered into the

CAVES staff under a ray of light coming from the ceiling of a cave, which appears very infrequently throughout the year.

The ESA CAVES team is preparing for CAVES 2013 by doing a 'dry run' at the training site. Procedures, tasks, equipment and locations are checked in preparation for the real thing: sending six astronauts underground in September.

CAVES, an abbreviation of Cooperative Adventure for Valuing and Exercising human behaviour and performance Skills, prepares astronauts to work safely and effectively and solve problems as a multicultural team while exploring uncharted areas using space procedures.

Photograph taken by ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano from on board the International Space Station showing a rising crescent Moon seen through rare noctilucent clouds. Luca is part of the six-strong Expedition 36 crew currently resident on the ISS. More about his six-month Volare Mission:

The Envisat satellite found that the dormant Mount Longonot in Kenya rose by 9 cm from 2004 to 2006. Tectonic activity such as the movement of magma underground may have caused this deformation of the surface above.

Our week through the lens:

05-09 August 2013