Suggested Searches

Images and Media

carina nebula

NOTE:
The NASA Insignia, Logotype, identifiers, and imagery are not in the public domain. The use of the Insignia, Logotype and NASA identifiers is protected by law, and imagery is made available for use consistent with Media Usage Guidelines.

NASA Images and Media Usage Guidelines

NASA content – images, audio, video, and media files used in the rendition of 3-dimensional models, such as texture maps and polygon data in any format – generally are not subject to copyright in the United States. You may use this material for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations and Internet Web pages. This general permission extends to personal Web pages.

News outlets, schools, and text-book authors may use NASA content without needing explicit permission, subject to compliance with these guidelines. NASA content used in a factual manner that does not imply endorsement may be used without needing explicit permission. NASA should be acknowledged as the source of the material. NASA occasionally uses copyright-protected material of third parties with permission on its website. Those images will be marked identified as copyright protected with the name of the copyright holder. NASA’s use does not convey any rights to others to use the same material. Those wishing to use copyright protected material of third parties must contact the copyright holder directly.

NON-COMMERCIAL USE

For educational or informational purposes

NASA content – images, audio, video, related media and files used in the rendition of 3-dimensional models, such as texture maps and polygon data in any format – generally are not subject to copyright in the United States. You may use this material for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations and Internet Web pages. This general permission extends to personal Web pages.

News outlets, schools, and text-book authors

News outlets, schools, and text-book authors may use NASA content without needing explicit permission, subject to compliance with these guidelines. NASA content used in a factual manner that does not imply endorsement may be used without needing explicit permission. NASA should be acknowledged as the source of the material. NASA occasionally uses copyright-protected material of third parties with permission on its website. Those images will be marked identified as copyright protected with the name of the copyright holder. NASA’s use does not convey any rights to others to use the same material. Those wishing to use copyright protected material of third parties must contact the copyright holder directly.

Panorama of lunar surface with instruments in foreground and astronaut in spacesuit in far right
This mini-panorama combines two photographs taken by Apollo 15 lunar module pilot Jim Irwin, from the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP) site, at the end of the second Apollo 15 moonwalk on August 1, 1971. Mission commander David R. Scott is leaning to his right and is putting down the Apollo Lunar Surface drill.

COMMERCIAL USE

For use of NASA images in books, clearances may be necessary for images that include any NASA logos or NASA employees to be used as cover art or in promotional content.  Otherwise, NASA imagery can be generally used editorially within published works that are not promotional in nature.

If the NASA material is to be used for commercial purposes, including advertisements, it must not explicitly or implicitly convey NASA’s endorsement of commercial goods or services.

Commercials and promotional content cannot be filmed on NASA property.

For commercial use of NASA’s images, emblems, or logos on merchandise or products refer to the Merchandise Guidelines and Approvals page.

Media including Identifiable Persons

If a NASA image, audio, video or media includes an identifiable person, using the media for commercial purposes may infringe that person’s right of privacy or publicity, and permission should be obtained from the person.

Astronauts or employees who are currently employed by NASA cannot have their names, likenesses or other personality traits displayed or position title used on any commercial products, advertisements, promotional material or commercial product packaging.

For guidance on commercial use on merchandise please refer to NASA’s Merchandise Guidelines.

For more information on using NASA content for commercial purposes, please read NASA Advertising Guidelines and Merchandise Guidelines.  Any questions regarding use of NASA content, or any NASA emblems, should be directed to Bert Ulrich in NASA’s Office of Communications at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

Astronauts or NASA employees who are retired from the agency can grant permission for the use of their names, likenesses or other personality traits in their discretion, but their former affiliation with NASA may not be used to promote any product, service or activity. For deceased astronauts or employees, their estates may retain rights in the deceased person’s name, likeness or other personality traits, so permission may still be needed.

There are many images (moving and still) which have been made publicly available by NASA featuring astronauts in space suits where the astronauts face may be shielded or not easily recognizable, but where some other aspect of the photo may indicate the astronaut’s identity – like a name tag or simply the historical context of the photo. In such a case, the restrictions set forth above may still be applicable, so permission may still be necessary.

Note - not yet cleared for publication.
Spread from The Worm
Courtesy of Standards Manual

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)

As a U.S. government agency, NASA makes its imagery and video publicly available for educational and information purposes, however, since NFTs are, in essence, digital tokens owned by someone as a “one of a kind” digital asset, NASA doesn’t wish for its materials to be used for these purposes. The agency also doesn’t approve any merchandising applications involving NFTs, and it’s unlawful to falsely claim copyright or other rights in NASA materials.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Applications

NASA is committed to transparency, open science, and making data available to everyone. While a wealth of public information is available for use in artificial intelligence (AI) applications, it’s important to understand the following when using our data for AI development:

Attribution: NASA cannot verify the accuracy of information once it’s incorporated into a large language model. Therefore, attribution of the information directly to NASA is not permitted. Similarly, we do not wish to have our Insignia (i.e., NASA Meatball, Worm logotype, or Seal) used in AI tools.

Source Disclosure (No Permission Implied): As a statement of fact, you can acknowledge your AI tool includes NASA source material, but do not imply any review or permission was granted by NASA for its specific use.

Accuracy Disclaimer: It’s important to clarify that NASA is not responsible for the accuracy of the information generated by your AI model.

AI Model Attribution: All outputs from the AI model should be attributed to the AI product itself, not NASA.

Endorsement: Use of NASA content to train AI models does not constitute endorsement by NASA.

By following these guidelines, you can ensure transparency and responsible use of our public information in your AI applications.

IMAGE ACCESS

NASA has extensive image and video  galleries online, including historic imagescurrent missionsastronomy picturesEarth images and ways to search for NASA images. Generally, each mission and program has a video and image collection on the topic page. For example, Space Station videos can be found at https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/videos/index.html. Content can also be found on our extensive social media channels.

Engineers within the Launch Control Center’s Firing Room 1 monitor on overall test of the Apollo 11 space vehicle. JoAnn Morgan can be found near the center of the third row.
NASA

Contact

For questions about specific images, please call 202-358-1900.

For questions about specific video, please call 202-358-0309.

Image and Media Resources

NASA’s multimedia resources can be found online here.
Below are a condensed list of image, video, audio, data and 3d asset resources.

NASA Image Libraries:

NASA Flickr Accounts

NASA Streaming video:

Audio

Data

3D/Tactile

Social

Additional Guidance

Guidelines for logo usage, merchandising requests, media usage, and advertising requests

Film & Documentary

From providing footage to on-site filming learn more about working with NASA on documentary and film projects.

Merchandise

Guidance for companies seeking approval for producing NASA-related merchandise

The Astronaut Snoopy balloon is seen floating along in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2022, in New York City.

Strategic Partnerships

Learn more about how NASA collaborates with brands on engagement opportunities and products.

NASA Meatball

Brand Guidelines

Guidance for use of NASA's Insignia (the "Meatball"), Logotype (the "Worm") and other supporting graphics.