Gallery .
.NASA Space Poetry
Go to Educator GuideRead poems all about space written by explorers at NASA to learn about different kinds of poetry!
Juno explores it Using her sensors Pointed carefully In close up, then out Threading the doughnut Encircling the globe: Radiation belt
- Acrostic poem by Tracy Drain, NASA-JPL systems engineer
About the image: Citizen scientist Gerald Eichstädt created this movie using images captured by the Juno spacecraft orbiting Jupiter. › Full video and caption
After the Plunge
Could you imagine you’d see all you saw All those moons and rings Saturn gave us so much to explore Saturn became your home In this era, after the plunge Now we have only your photos and data I miss you, dear explorer
– Acrostic poem by Liz Landau, NASA science writer, editor
About the image: In 2013, the Cassini spacecraft took this image of Saturn lit from behind by the Sun. Seven of the planet's moons, Earth and Mars can all be seen as tiny specs of light in the background. After 13 years orbiting Saturn, the Cassini mission ended in 2017 when the spacecraft took a planned grand-finale plunge into the planet's atmosphere. › Full image and caption
Common among the rocky planets and icy worlds Records of celestial bombardment Attesting to a violent meteoric past Tumultuous from start to finish Ejecting rock blocks far and wide Ringed mountains your circumspect marker Still you remain for eons past
– Acrostic poem by Fred Calef, NASA-JPL data scientist/geologist
About the image: This crater-filled scene was captured in 1972 during the Apollo 16 mission to the Moon. › Full image and caption
Roses are red Space is black Put on your spacesuit Or you’ll have a heart attack
– Epigram by Anonymous
About the image: In 1984, astronaut Bruce McCandless became the first astronaut to move about in space without being connected to a spacecraft. He used a jet-propelled backpack to move around. › Learn more
Look around this Solar System of heavy elements ... Here lies the body of a dead star.
– Epitaph by Tracy Drain, NASA-JPL systems engineer
About the image: This image from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory space telescope shows the remnants of the supernova Cassiopeia A. › Full image and caption
Become a Sojourner if you have the Spirit, and the Opportunity like a risen Phoenix seize your Curiosity to gain InSight from your Perseverance
– Free verse poem by Fred Calef, NASA-JPL data scientist/geologist
About the image: This collage of NASA Mars rovers and landers shows Sojourner, Opportunity, Phoenix, Curiosity and InSight on the Red Planet along with the Perseverance rover being assembled at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Go There
Stand on Europa’s surface and look up, And Jupiter is too big to grasp. Sit on the surface — no, lie down. How overwhelming Jupiter is in the darkness, and so bright. On your back like this it feels like looking down, like you could fall into those churning clouds. It’s cold on icy Europa, but beneath Jupiter’s clouds is a worldwide furnace. Jupiter just loiters there, never rising or setting. But it changes So fast! The clouds are in an endless race from one horizon of the planet to the other. When you woke, the Great Red spot crept up the western horizon like a planet-sized flounder. Now lunchtime and the Great Red Spot has already disappeared over the eastern horizon. Jupiter changes like Earth’s moon. Crescent-full-crescent-dark ... You wake today, and Jupiter is full. You wake the next day, and Jupiter is a thick crescent and the Sun is rising on your left. By bedtime the Sun has disappeared behind Jupiter, which is now mostly dark with a ring of twilight. From here on Europa Jupiter is a campfire of clouds. Could you watch this forever? So still, yet not still. But you can not stay, must not stay. This is no place for humans. The radiation. Two years to get here but already you must leave and never return. The radiation. You must return to Earth where nature sculpted all the species to fit our planet, Where the sky is mostly empty, and will sometimes seem dull by comparison, Where the world in the sky is only a medium-sized moon. But Earth is the safest planet for you For now. Nature still sculpts us. And someday it will mold us into something different, Maybe into creatures hardier and even more adaptable. Then we’ll make homes of the planets Here and around other stars. Maybe some of us will make spaceships our homes So we can always be exploring And finding new worlds to study And to admire And to dream about.
– Free verse poem by Jay R. Thompson, NASA-JPL science writer
About the image: This artist's concept shows a simulated view from the surface of Jupiter's moon Europa. Europa's potentially rough, icy surface, tinged with reddish areas that scientists hope to learn more about, can be seen in the foreground. The giant planet Jupiter looms over the horizon. › Full image and caption
Looking at the moon My heart is full of wonder I wish to go there
– Haiku by Rhiannon Conrado, NASA-JPL staff assistant
About the image: A full moon shines beyond the silhouette of palm tree fronds.
Dizzying cyclones Purple and blue, swirling clouds Poles of Jupiter
– Haiku by Tracy Drain, NASA-JPL systems engineer
About the image: This marble-like view of Jupiter's north pole was created by citizen scientist Prateek Sarpal using data from the JunoCam instrument on the Juno spacecraft. › Full image and caption
Rusty red surface Cratered, layered, rocky plains Someday we’ll touch Mars
– Haiku by Tracy Drain, NASA-JPL systems engineer
About the image: This portion of a 360-degree mosaic from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover looks out over a portion of the Bagnold Dunes on the Red Planet, which stretch for several miles. › Full image and caption
Seven Earth-sized worlds Orbit an ultra-cool dwarf: TRAPPIST-wonderful
– Haiku by Liz Landau, NASA science writer, editor
About the image: This artist's concept shows what the seven rocky planets orbiting the star TRAPPIST-1 may look like based on available data about the planets' diameters, masses and distances from their star. › Full image and caption
Mars
You going to Mars? It’s far! You better not take a car!
– Rhyming couplet by Lyle Tavernier, NASA-JPL education specialist
About the image: This artist's concept shows the Mars Science Laboratory's Curiosity rover dropping into the top of the Red Planet's atmosphere in its protective heat shield. › Learn more
Robots, big and small. Let’s go build them all!
– Rhyming couplet by Lyle Tavernier, NASA-JPL education specialist
About the image: Engineers attach NASA's Mars Helicopter to the belly of the Perseverance rover at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. › Full image and caption
Parker Solar Probe
The Sun is a ball of hydrogen gas. And around it the Parker Probe shall pass.
– Rhyming couplet by Lyle Tavernier, NASA-JPL education specialist
About the image: This artist's concept shows NASA's Parker Solar Probe approaching the Sun. › Learn more
InSight
Heading to Mars, it’s InSight. For a spacecraft, pretty light! It launched from the West Coast Not Florida, like most. After 300 million miles Safe landing will bring lots of smiles.
– Rhyming couplet by Lyle Tavernier, NASA-JPL education specialist
About the image: An Atlas-V rocket lifts off from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base. The same launch vehicle and launch location was used to send the InSight Mars lander to the Red Planet in 2018. › Learn more
Shall I compare thee to a Martian day? Thou art 37 minutes longer and colder Gentle winds may loft your dusty display During your summer I would never smolder Always too intense the radiation does shine Even when the clouds may cause it to dim Storms and dust devils appear to align Seen from orbit, limb to limb This red majesty can never fade Iron bound to oxygen, the indubitable rust A sign of past oceans and atmosphere forbade Broken magnetic field's trust So long as humans and robots can see So long will you always fascinate me
– Sonnet by Fred Calef, NASA-JPL data scientist/geologist
About the image: This mosaic of Mars was made with images captured by the Viking Orbiter 1. The center of the scene shows the planet's Valles Marineris canyon system, over 3,000 km long and up to 8 km deep. › Full image and caption
Your turn!
Feeling inspired? Find out how to write your own space poetry with this activity from NASA!