Based just outside London, photographer Jason Hawkes has been making fascinating aerial images since 1991. One of his specialties is nighttime photography, where he mounts his camera to a gyro-stabilizer and takes photos directly from the open door of a helicopter. Jason has been generous to me over the years, and once again he has shared a group of stunning images. As we approach the London Summer Olympics, let Jason give you a preview tour of London and other cities in the U.K. [30 photos plus 1 video]

Earlier today, a Soyuz-FG rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying an International Space Station (ISS) crew into orbit. Baikonur, Russia's primary space launch facility since the 1950s, is the largest in the world, and supports multiple launches of both manned and unmanned rockets every year. With the U.S. manned space program currently on hold, Baikonur is now the sole launching point for trips to the ISS. Gathered here is a look at the facility, some of the cosmonaut training programs in Star City outside of Moscow, and a few recent launches and landings -- plus a bonus: 3 spectacular long-exposure images of Earth from the ISS. [41 photos (plus 3)]

A half-century ago, the space race was heating up and the Cold War was freezing over. Soviet missile bases discovered in Cuba triggered a crisis that brought the U.S. to the brink of war with the U.S.S.R. Civil rights activists won hard-earned victories against segregationists in the American South, and John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth. Algeria gained independence from France and the U.S. slowly escalated its involvement in Vietnam. Meanwhile, Seattle held a World's Fair called the the Century 21 Exposition, celebrating the themes of space, science, and the future. Let me take you 50 years into the past now, for a look at the world as it was in 1962. [50 photos]

Reuters photographer Jim Urquhart recently captured these scenes from a fading culture, as he followed Montana ranchers on their final horse drive, moving more than 300 horses down from their winter range. Every spring the Mantle family, along with with a group of wranglers, drives the herd north over 35 miles and three days, through the small town of Three Forks to their ranch. After decades of supplying and tending to horses, the Mantles, citing financial challenges, now plan to sell off their herd and shift to raising beef cattle. Take a moment to travel with the Mantle family through big sky country, on a journey once so familiar and iconic, now fading into memory with the rest of cowboy culture. [27 photos]

Seven years after London was selected to host the 2012 Summer Olympics, the Olympic Flame is on its way to England. Earlier today in Greece, performers dressed as priests and priestesses gathered for a ceremony in Olympia, the ancient birthplace of the Olympic games, where they appealed to the sun god Apollo to light the flame with the help of a parabolic mirror. The Olympic flame was then passed to swimmer Spyros Gianniotis to begin a seven-day relay through Greece, followed by a flight to Great Britain, where it will begin a 70-day journey, changing hands 8,000 times on its way to London. (See also Max Fisher's Nazi Origins of the Olympic Flame Relay, from today on the Atlantic.) [19 photos]

Based in Nantes, France, the street theatre company Royal de Luxe performs around the world, primarily using gigantic, elaborate marionettes to tell stories that take place over several days and wind through entire cities. Puppeteers maneuver the huge marionettes -- some as tall as 12 meters (40 ft) -- through streets, parks, and waterways, performing their story along the way. Gathered here are images of several recent Royal de Luxe performances, from Belgium, Mexico, Germany, Chile, and England. [38 photos]

Last Sunday, May 6, marked the 75th anniversary of the 1937 Hindenburg disaster. The massive German airship caught fire while attempting to land near Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 35 people aboard, plus one ground crew member. Of the 97 passengers and crew members on board, 62 managed to survive. The horrifying incident was captured by reporters and photographers and replayed on radio broadcasts, in newsprint, and on newsreels. News of the disaster led to a public loss of confidence in airship travel, ending an era. The 245 m (803 f) Hindenburg used flammable hydrogen for lift, which incinerated the airship in a massive fireball, but the actual cause of the initial fire remains unknown. Gathered here are images of the Hindenburg's first successful year of transatlantic travel, and of its tragic ending 75 years ago. (Also, be sure to see Recovered Letters Reveal the Lost History of the Hindenburg on Atlantic Video.) [34 photos]

On Saturday, skywatchers around the world were treated to views of the so-called "supermoon," the largest full moon of the year. On May 6, the moon approached within 357,000 km (222,000 mi) of Earth, in what is scientifically known as a perigee-syzygy of the Earth-Moon-Sun system (perigee: closest point of an elliptical orbit; syzygy: straight line made of three bodies in a gravitational system). Photographers across the globe set out to capture the event, and collected here are 24 of the most super images of this year's supermoon. [24 photos]

It's time once more for a look into the animal kingdom and our interactions with the countless other species that share our planet. Today's photos include researchers dressed in panda costumes, a massage given by an African snail, a 39-pound cat named Meow, a Japanese macaque with hay fever, and orangutans having a playdate using FaceTime on an iPad. These images and many others are part of this roundup of animals in the news from recent weeks, seen from the perspectives of their human observers, companions, captors, and caretakers, part of an ongoing series on animals in the news. [41 photos]

In cities all around the world yesterday, people took to the streets for May Day demonstrations, protests, and rallies. Members of the Occupy movement, leftists, labor groups, students and more made their voices heard from Jakarta to Berlin, and from Lagos to Seattle. Frustration with financial institutions, sluggish economies, and harsh austerity measures were aired, and some rallies became violent, resulting in a number of arrests. Collected here are scenes from yesterday, May Day, as it happened cross the globe. [40 photos]

For nearly three years now, I've been posting monthly photo essays on the war in Afghanistan, and a question I hear fairly often is, "Why do you do this?" My intent is to continue to focus attention on what is actually happening on the ground -- far from policy debates or speeches. As long as we, as a nation, are sending thousands of men and women into harm's way and tasking them with acting on our behalf in a foreign country, we need to be aware of what we are asking them to do, what their lives are like, and what the lives of the Afghan people are like. This is true even if the conflict has been going on for more than a decade -- and even if we don't all agree on whether we should be there at all. As of April 12, 120,000 soldiers from 50 nations are committed to Afghanistan, with 90,000 of them from the United States. All are working toward the planned 2014 withdrawal. Gathered here are images of those involved in this conflict over the past month, as part of the ongoing series here on Afghanistan. [41 photos]

As part of an ongoing experiment, I solicited reader requests for news photos as part of our Culture Report. I asked people on Twitter and email, "Would you like to see a good photo of a particular subject? A high-res version of a photo you've already seen somewhere else? A photo from a particular photographer or event? If I have access and can find it, I'll try to post it." The response was even better than the last time we did this, the subject matter was varied, and the task of finding the images and composing the entry was great fun. Images ranged from Ernest Hemingway to the Flaming Lips, taken in places from North Korea to the International Space Station. If you like this experiment, let me know in the comments, and I'll turn it into a more regular feature. To all those who made requests, thanks so much. [36 photos]

The New York City Municipal Archives just released a database of over 870,000 photos from its collection of more than 2.2 million images of New York throughout the 20th century. Their subjects include daily life, construction, crime, city business, aerial photographs, and more. I spent hours lost in these amazing photos, and gathered this group together to give you just a glimpse of what's been made available from this remarkable collection. [53 photos]

After years of building up more than $400 billion in debt, Greece was devastated by the recent global economic crisis. Fearing the fallout from a Greek bankruptcy, fellow Eurozone members provided aid packages -- under strict conditions, including the adoption of severe austerity measures. Greece is entering a fifth straight year of recession, its economy poised to shrink another 5 percent in 2012. Average unemployment is at a record 21.8 percent -- with youth unemployment (under 25) at 51 percent. Years of increasingly difficult conditions have hit the citizens of Greece hard, and the uncertainty and frustration have led some to flee, a few to take their own lives. Collected here are images from a nation in the midst of a deepening crisis. [43 photos]

April is Autism Awareness Month, a time to focus attention on those with autism and related pervasive developmental disorders. The Centers for Disease Control just released a study estimating that 1 in 88 children in the United States have been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder -- up from an estimate of 1 in 156 ten years ago. According to the CDC, only part of this growth is related to increased awareness and early diagnosis. Recent efforts in early detection and educational intervention have shown encouraging results, bringing a measure of hope to often difficult family situations. Relatives and caretakers will tell you that working with those with autism can be both the most frustrating and the most rewarding experience of their lives. My only brother is autistic, and my family and I know these difficulties and rewards well. He's an adult now, living happily in a group home much like the one featured in the final four photos below by Kevin Wellenius. Many thanks to the families and photographers who are sharing their personal, intimate photos here today. [24 photos]

Yesterday was Earth Day, a time set aside to increase awareness of the natural environment and the impact of our collective actions. In honor of Earth Day, gathered here is a collection of scenes of our home planet from above, from vantage points we don't see in everyday life. These scenes help show the Earth as a larger system and demonstrate the extent to which human activity has affected it. [39 photos]

Marijuana use, for medicinal or recreational reasons, remains high around the world, despite often severe penalties for its possession and distribution. In the U.S., 16 states currently allow the use of medicinal marijuana and some are now considering legalizing recreational use, despite federal laws forbidding such activity. In the Netherlands, Dutch coffee shop owners are working to block a government plan to halt "drug tourists" from buying marijuana in their cafes. Mexico's bloody drug wars continue as cartels battle to control the thousands of tons of marijuana shipped to the U.S., smuggled across the border by any means imaginable. Collected here are a few images of some of the many contentious issues around marijuana. [40 photos]

Having last traveled to low Earth orbit in March 2011, NASA's Space Shuttle Discovery took to the skies one last time yesterday, piggybacking on a modified Boeing 747. The shuttle left Florida and landed just outside of Washington, D.C., where it will join the collection at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum. Discovery, the fleet leader of NASA's orbiters, flew 39 successful missions over 27 years, accumulating 365 total days in space. Tomorrow, a welcome ceremony is planned at the Smithsonian's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. Gathered here are images from Discovery's last flight. [30 photos]