Humanity's 'last pictures' in space disc

A closeup of The Last Pictures time capsule by multimedia artist Trevor Paglen shows the gold-plated silicon disc that contains 100 black and white pictures. It's slated to launch with a communications satellite in a few months, and then continue to orbit the Earth indefinitely, perhaps outlasting humanity itself.

The "pit scene" from the cave paintings at Lascaux, France. Discovered in 1940, the cave's stunning artwork is believed to be some 17,300 years old.

This scene shows a dust storm descending on a rural settlement in the 1930s. Severe droughts helped turn soil to dust and blow away.

This shot from The Last Pictures gallery shows a ship navigating the Suez Canal in Egypt. Opened in 1867, the canal lets ships sail from Europe to Asia without going around Africa.

Greek and Armenian orphan refugees are seen experiencing the seashore for the first time in their lives in Marathon, Greece.

This image shows construction of the Cheyenne Mountain nuclear center in Colorado Springs, Colo. The facility was built in the 1960s amid Cold War tensions.

A Soyuz-FG rocket launches at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The vehicle is often used to service the International Space Station.

Migrants are imaged by a Predator drone along the U.S.-Mexico border. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency covers the southern border with Predator flights.

Shot by astronaut William Anders, this powerful image of the Earth rising above the moon's horizon was taken during the Apollo 8 mission in 1968.

This quintessential image of springtime shows a flowering cherry tree. "Sakura" trees are celebrated every spring in Japan, where revelers party under the blossoms.