| name | search-image |
| title | NASA Images Search |
| description | >- Search NASA's Image and Video Library for images, videos, or audio by free-text query, filters (center, keywords, photographer, year range, location, album), or known NASA asset ID, returning each match's metadata and direct URLs to every file rendition. Read-only. |
| website | images.nasa.gov |
| category | media |
| tags | - nasa - images - media - space - search - public-api - read-only |
| source | 'browserbase: agent-runtime 2026-05-18' |
| updated | '2026-05-18' |
| recommended_method | api |
| alternative_methods | - method: browser rationale: >- Only useful when the JSON API is unreachable or you specifically need a screenshot of the rendered SPA search page. The browser path is ~100x more expensive per query because the SPA at images.nasa.gov calls the same JSON API under the hood, while browse snapshot of /search?q=... returns 0 listing refs (fully JS-hydrated cards). |
| verified | false |
| proxies | false |
NASA Images Search
Purpose
Search NASA's Image and Video Library for media (images, videos, audio) matching a free-text query, filters (center, keywords, photographer, year range, location, album), or a known NASA asset ID, and return each match's title, description, NASA ID, date, capture center, media type, and direct URLs to every rendition (thumb/small/medium/large/original for images; mp4/mov/srt for videos). Read-only — never uploads, edits, or comments.
When to Use
- Find photos / videos for a topic (e.g. "Apollo 11", "Mars Perseverance", "Hubble nebula") for use in articles, slide decks, or downstream image-analysis pipelines.
- Resolve a known
nasa_id (e.g. PIA23591, as11-40-5874) to its full set of file renditions and EXIF metadata.
- Enumerate an entire NASA album (e.g.
Mars_2020_Perseverance) page by page.
- Bulk-build image datasets filtered by capture center (JSC, JPL, KSC, GSFC, HQ, …), photographer, or year range.
- Anywhere you'd otherwise scrape
images.nasa.gov — the public JSON API is faster, cheaper, fully unauthenticated, and structurally more reliable.
Workflow
The NASA Image and Video Library web UI at https://images.nasa.gov is a thin React SPA over a fully public JSON API at https://images-api.nasa.gov. No API key, no auth, no cookies, no Referer header, no User-Agent gating, no Verified, and no residential proxy. A plain HTTPS GET from any IP works. Lead with the API; only fall back to the browser UI if you specifically need to capture an on-page screenshot of the search-results page itself. The browser path is ~100× more expensive for the same data because the SPA hydrates the same JSON endpoint behind a fully JS-rendered page (browse snapshot of /search?q=... returns 0 listing refs).
-
Build the search URL. Base path: https://images-api.nasa.gov/search. Compose any combination of these query params (at least one filter is required — see gotcha below):
| Param | Meaning | Notes |
|---|
q | Free-text query | Searches title + description + keywords. Space → %20 or +. |
media_type | image, video, audio, or comma-separated list | e.g. media_type=image,video. Omit to search all types. |
center | NASA capture center | Three-letter code: JSC, JPL, KSC, GSFC, HQ, MSFC, LRC, ARC, AFRC, SSC, GRC. Case-sensitive uppercase. |
keywords | Comma-separated keyword list | Matches against data[0].keywords. |
location | Capture location | Free text, e.g. Kennedy Space Center. Matches against data[0].location. |
photographer | Primary photographer | e.g. NASA/Bill Ingalls. URL-encode the /. |
secondary_creator | Credit / agency | e.g. NASA/JPL-Caltech. |
title | Title-only substring | Narrower than q. |
description | Description substring | |
description_508 | 508-compliant alt-text substring | |
nasa_id | Exact asset ID lookup | Single result. Equivalent to /asset/{nasa_id} for the metadata block only. |
year_start, year_end | Capture-year bounds | Inclusive, four-digit years (e.g. year_start=2020&year_end=2023). Filters against date_created. |
page | 1-based page number | Default 1. |
page_size | Results per page | Default 100. Server accepts up to several hundred; through browse cloud fetch the practical ceiling is ~600 because the 1 MB Fetch response cap kicks in around page_size=700 (502 "response body exceeded 1MB"). Use 100 by default; raise only when you need fewer round-trips and have confirmed the response stays under 1 MB. |
-
Issue the GET:
browse cloud fetch \
"https://images-api.nasa.gov/search?q=apollo%2011&media_type=image&page_size=100"
Response is JSON. The top-level shape is the NASA Collection+JSON envelope:
{
"collection": {
"version": "1.1",
"href": "<echoed request URL>",
"items": [ ],
"metadata": { "total_hits": 5881 },
"links": [ { "rel": "next", "prompt": "Next", "href": "<next page URL>" } ]
}
}
Read collection.metadata.total_hits for the result count and collection.links[?rel==next].href to drive pagination (see step 5).
-
Decode each item. collection.items[] is the result array. Each element has exactly three keys:
href — URL to the per-asset manifest (https://images-assets.nasa.gov/{type}/{nasa_id}/collection.json). This is the same payload /asset/{nasa_id} returns and lists every file rendition (originals + thumbnails + metadata.json + captions.srt).data — single-element array; data[0] is the metadata object:
{
"nasa_id": "PIA23591",
"title": "Seeing the Mars 2020 Rover Off",
"description": "On Feb. 11, 2020, ...",
"description_508": "On Feb. 11, 2020, ...",
"media_type": "image",
"center": "JPL",
"date_created": "2020-02-12T00:00:00Z",
"keywords": ["Mars 2020 Rover"],
"album": ["Mars_2020_Perseverance"],
"location": "Kennedy Space Center",
"photographer": "NASA/Aubrey Gemignani",
"secondary_creator": "NASA/JPL-Caltech"
}
Only nasa_id, title, media_type, center, date_created are guaranteed present. Everything else is optional — guard with data[0].get(key, default).links — array of file-rendition URLs previewable on the search-results card. For media_type=image items this is the full image set (thumb, small, medium, large, orig); for media_type=video items this contains only thumbnail JPEGs + a .srt captions link — to enumerate the actual .mp4 / .mov video files you must call /asset/{nasa_id} (step 4). Each link looks like:
{
"href": "https://images-assets.nasa.gov/image/PIA23591/PIA23591~medium.jpg",
"rel": "alternate",
"render": "image",
"width": 1280,
"height": 916,
"size": 112000
}
The rendition suffix follows the pattern {nasa_id}~{thumb|small|medium|large|orig}.{jpg|tif|png}. The ~orig file may be .jpg, .png, .tif, or .tiff depending on what was uploaded — read the href, don't assume .jpg.
-
(Optional) Resolve full asset manifest for video files or EXIF metadata:
browse cloud fetch "https://images-api.nasa.gov/asset/PIA23591"
Returns the same envelope but items[] is now one entry per file (all renditions + a metadata.json entry). Use this to:
- Get the original-resolution video file URL (
.mp4 / .mov) for media_type=video items.
- Get the path to the full EXIF + AVAIL metadata JSON (the entry whose
href ends in /metadata.json).
- Get the captions
.srt URL.
Companion lookup endpoints:
https://images-api.nasa.gov/metadata/{nasa_id} — returns {"location": "<S3 URL>"} redirector. Fetch the location URL to get the full EXIF block (camera make/model, dimensions, all AVAIL:* fields).https://images-api.nasa.gov/captions/{nasa_id} — same redirector pattern, points to the .srt file for videos.https://images-api.nasa.gov/album/{album_name} — returns the same collection envelope filtered to one album. Album names are internal collection IDs like Mars_2020_Perseverance or KSC_50th_Anniversary, not human-readable slugs — discover them by first running a search and reading items[].data[0].album[].
-
Paginate when total_hits > page_size. Two equivalent paths:
- Follow the server-provided next URL:
collection.links[?rel==next].href (already includes the incremented page).
- Or increment
page yourself: &page=2&page_size=100. Pages are 1-indexed.
When the response no longer contains a links[].rel == "next" entry you've reached the last page. Stop at page * page_size >= total_hits as a safety bound.
-
Build the public web URL for a result (for citing back to a user-facing page):
https://images.nasa.gov/details/{nasa_id}
This is the SPA detail page. The API returns no direct field for it — just construct from nasa_id. The URL renders for any valid NASA ID.
Browser fallback
Use only when the JSON API is unreachable (extremely rare — no documented downtime in our trace, no rate-limit at 10 req/s) or when you specifically need a screenshot of the rendered search page:
- Create a bare Browserbase session — no Verified, no proxies required.
images.nasa.gov serves anonymous traffic without any anti-bot challenge.
SID=$(browse cloud sessions create --keep-alive | jq -r '.id')
- Navigate to
https://images.nasa.gov/search?q={query}&media_type=image (the SPA's search URL accepts the same param shape).
- Wait ~3 seconds for hydration, then
browse get html body or browse snapshot.
- The page hits
https://images-api.nasa.gov/search?... under the hood — capture the XHR via browser-trace and parse the same JSON shape from step 3 above, or fall back to regex-scraping the rendered cards (data-asset-id="<nasa_id>" plus .image-asset__image img[src] for the thumbnail). Always prefer the captured XHR over the rendered cards — the cards render only the visible page.
- Release:
browse cloud sessions update "$SID" --status REQUEST_RELEASE.
Site-Specific Gotchas
- At least one search parameter is required. Bare
GET /search returns 400 {"reason": "Expected 'q' text search parameter or other keywords."}. media_type=image alone counts ("228,163 image hits"); q= alone counts; any filter combination counts. Do not emit a bare /search request even as a probe.
page_size server limit vs. transport limit. The API server itself accepts at least page_size=600. Through browse cloud fetch, requests with page_size >= 700 (≈ 1 MB JSON) return 502 "response body exceeded the maximum allowed size of 1MB" — that's the Fetch proxy, not NASA. Stick to page_size=100 for general use; if you raise it, cap at 500 to stay safely under the Fetch limit, or switch to a browser session whose XHR isn't proxy-capped.- Most metadata fields are optional. Only
nasa_id, title, media_type, center, date_created are guaranteed. keywords, album, location, photographer, secondary_creator, description, description_508 are all sometimes-absent. Always .get(key) with a default.
- Video search results don't include the actual video file URLs. For
media_type=video items, items[].links[] contains only thumbnail JPEGs (~thumb, ~small, ~medium, ~large) plus a .srt captions link. To get the .mp4 / .mov original, you must call /asset/{nasa_id} in a follow-up request. Images, by contrast, ship all five renditions directly in the search response.
- Original-image file extensions vary.
{nasa_id}~orig may be .jpg, .png, .tif, or .tiff (verified: PIA23591~orig.jpg, NHQ201907190146~orig.tif). Read the href from links[].rel == "canonical"; don't construct the URL from the nasa_id + assume .jpg.
- Some
nasa_id values contain literal spaces. Video asset IDs like NDTV000908_Apollo_Digest_Series_Spacecraft for Apollo have unencoded spaces in their href URLs as returned by the API. When following these URLs, URL-encode the space (%20) or your HTTP client will reject the request.
center is case-sensitive uppercase. center=jpl returns 0 hits; center=JPL returns thousands. The canonical codes are the three- or four-letter NASA center abbreviations (JPL, JSC, KSC, GSFC, HQ, MSFC, LRC, ARC, AFRC, SSC, GRC).media_type accepts comma-separated lists. media_type=image,video returns mixed results in the same response — branch downstream on data[0].media_type per item. There is no media_type=all toggle; omitting the param entirely is the "all types" search.year_start / year_end filter against date_created, not upload date. Some assets have a date_created decades before they were uploaded (e.g. Apollo-era photos uploaded in 2007). Filtering year_start=2020 excludes them even if NASA published them in 2020.- Album names are internal collection IDs, not slugs.
/album/apollo11 returns 404 {"reason": "No assets found for album=\"apollo11\" page=1"}. The right name is something like Apollo_11_50th_Anniversary or KSC_50th_Anniversary. Discover the exact string by running a /search?q=apollo+11&page_size=5 first and reading items[].data[0].album[].
/metadata/{nasa_id} is a two-hop endpoint. It returns {"location": "<S3 URL>"} — the actual EXIF block lives at that S3 URL (an images-assets.nasa.gov/.../metadata.json). Same pattern for /captions/{nasa_id} (returns .srt URL). Fetch the location to get the actual payload. There is no direct-content variant.- 404 error bodies are JSON, not HTML.
/asset/<bad-id> → {"reason": "No AssetDB records for nasaid=..."}. /album/<bad-name> → {"reason": "No assets found for album=\"...\" page=1"}. Parse reason for human-readable failure messages.
- No auth, no rate-limit observed, no anti-bot. 10-request bursts from the same IP all returned 200 in our trace. NASA does not publish a documented rate-limit for this API; stay under ~10 req/s as a self-imposed politeness ceiling. No
Referer, User-Agent, or cookies are checked.
href URLs may use http:// (not https://). Several response fields — notably the /asset/{nasa_id} item hrefs — return http://images-assets.nasa.gov/.... The same URLs work over HTTPS; upgrade the scheme client-side if you care about TLS.- Search SPA at
images.nasa.gov/search?... returns 0 snapshot refs. It's a JS-hydrated React app — browse snapshot after wait load shows the chrome but no per-result refs. Don't try to click cards; use the underlying API or capture the XHR.
Expected Output
{
"query": "apollo 11",
"filters": {
"media_type": "image",
"year_start": null,
"year_end": null,
"center": null,
"page": 1,
"page_size": 100
},
"total_hits": 5881,
"page": 1,
"page_size": 100,
"next_page_url": "https://images-api.nasa.gov/search?q=apollo+11&media_type=image&page_size=100&page=2",
"results": [
{
"nasa_id": "jsc2007e034221",
"title": "Apollo 11 spacecraft pre-launch",
"description": "Personnel atop the 402-ft. Mobile Service Structure look back at the Apollo 11 spacecraft as the tower is moved away during a Countdown Demonstration Test. Photo filed 11 July 1969.",
"media_type": "image",
"center": "JSC",
"date_created": "1969-07-11T00:00:00Z",
"keywords": ["Apollo", "Apollo 11", "Launch"],
"album": ["KSC_50th_Anniversary"],
"location": null,
"photographer": null,
"secondary_creator": null,
"asset_manifest_url": "https://images-assets.nasa.gov/image/jsc2007e034221/collection.json",
"details_url": "https://images.nasa.gov/details/jsc2007e034221",
"renditions": {
"thumb": { "url": "https://images-assets.nasa.gov/image/jsc2007e034221/jsc2007e034221~thumb.jpg", "width": 487, "height": 640, "size_bytes": 60000 },
"small": { "url": "https://images-assets.nasa.gov/image/jsc2007e034221/jsc2007e034221~small.jpg", "width": 487, "height": 640, "size_bytes": 60000 },
"medium": { "url": "https://images-assets.nasa.gov/image/jsc2007e034221/jsc2007e034221~medium.jpg", "width": 975, "height": 1280, "size_bytes": 176000 },
"large": { "url": "https://images-assets.nasa.gov/image/jsc2007e034221/jsc2007e034221~large.jpg", "width": 1463, "height": 1920, "size_bytes": 332000 },
"orig": { "url": "https://images-assets.nasa.gov/image/jsc2007e034221/jsc2007e034221~orig.jpg", "width": 2341, "height": 3072, "size_bytes": 1402000 }
}
}
]
}
Video result variant (media_type=video) — note renditions contains only thumbnails + captions; fetch asset_manifest_url to enumerate the .mp4/.mov files:
{
"nasa_id": "NDTV000908_Apollo_Digest_Series_Spacecraft for Apollo",
"title": "Apollo Digest Series — Spacecraft for Apollo",
"media_type": "video",
"center": "HQ",
"date_created": "1967-01-01T00:00:00Z",
"asset_manifest_url": "https://images-assets.nasa.gov/video/NDTV000908_Apollo_Digest_Series_Spacecraft%20for%20Apollo/collection.json",
"renditions": {
"thumb": { "url": "https://images-assets.nasa.gov/video/.../...~thumb.jpg" },
"captions": { "url": "https://images-assets.nasa.gov/video/.../....srt", "rel": "captions" }
},
"note": "Video file URLs (.mp4/.mov) require a follow-up GET to asset_manifest_url."
}
Not-found variant (when resolving a specific nasa_id via /asset/{nasa_id} or /album/{album_name}):
{
"success": false,
"reason": "asset_not_found",
"nasa_id": "THIS_DOES_NOT_EXIST_zzz",
"api_message": "No AssetDB records for nasaid=THIS_DOES_NOT_EXIST_zzz"
}
