NASA's stunning Pride flag is made entirely from space imagery

NASA's sun and space division (yes, that's a thing) has unveiled an out-of-this-world photography montage in celebration of Pride Month. Combining to form a Progress Pride flag, each stripe of the design features a different image taken by the team at NASA – from the algae-filled lakes of California to the swirling storms of Jupiter. 

As June rolls around we're undoubtedly going to be seeing a lot of Pride logos but it's rare to see one that honours the celebration of LGBTQIA+ through the lens of natural beauty.  Not only is the piece a stunning homage to Pride Month but an ingenious way to revive the beautiful imagery captured by NASA over the years. 

Compiled by science communicator and artist Rachel Lense, this version of the Progress Pride flag features a diverse selection of snaps from NASA's archive. In a post on Bluesky, Rachel explains the origins behind each image.

"A pride flag with every color band represented by a NASA image. White is Earth clouds, pink is aurora, blue is the Sun in a specific wavelength, brown is Jupiter clouds, black is the Hubble deep field, red is the top of sprites, orange is a Mars crater, yellow is the surface of Io, green is a lake with algae, blue is Neptune, and purple is the Crab Nebula in a specific wavelength."

Users on Bluesky were quick to share their praises at Rachel's image, with one user commenting "This is absolutely awesome!!!! All pride flags should have a little bit of space in them, I love this concept." Another chimed in "This is utterly beautiful. I’m a hobby astrophotographer and I can’t find adequate words to describe the beauty of this," while one user playfully commented, "You’re just proving that pride is universe(al)."

For more Pride-inspired design, check out this modern LGBTQIA+ branding for Switchboard – a support line celebrating a vibrant heritage. If you're after more NASA news, take a look at the stunning eclipse posters that celebrate the adorable optical illusion that it spotted in space.