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.
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.
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 images, current missions, astronomy pictures, Earth 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.
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 Image and Video Library
- NASA Image of the Day
- Catalog of Earth Imagery
- NASA Earth Observatory
- Scientific Visualization Studio
- Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth
- NASA GIPHY
- JPL Photojournal
- James Webb Space Telescope Imagery
- NASA VR and 360 Multimedia
- High Energy Astrophysics Picture of the Week
- Solar Dynamics Observatory
- MODIS Image of the Day
- Mars Perseverance Gallery
- Landsat Image Gallery
- Hubble Imagery
- HiRISE Imagery
- Trek Galleries
- Faces of NASA
- LROC Lunar Imagery
NASA Flickr Accounts
- NASA HQ Photo
- Glenn Research Center
- Goddard Space Flight Center
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- Johnson Space Center
- Kennedy Space Center
- Langley Research Center
- Marshall Space Flight Center
- NASA APPEL Knowledge Services
- Robotic Refueling Mission
- NASA on The Commons
- NASA Space Flight Awareness
- Chandra X-ray Observatory
- NASA_SDO
- Hubble Space Telescope
- James Webb Space Telescope
- Project Morpheus
NASA Streaming video:
Audio
Data
3D/Tactile
- NASA 3D Resources
- 3D Printed Universe
- Blind/Low-Vision Accessible Materials – Chanda X-ray
- Tactile Solar System Images
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
Strategic Partnerships
Learn more about how NASA collaborates with brands on engagement opportunities and products.
Brand Guidelines
Guidance for use of NASA's Insignia (the "Meatball"), Logotype (the "Worm") and other supporting graphics.