Resources · Make integration

NASA Make integrationAutomate NASA with Make.

Want space imagery in your content without copying links by hand? The NASA Make integration gives you 3 modules: 2 actions and 1 search. This guide is for marketers, teachers and makers who know NASA's photos but not Make yet.

Try the NASA integration on MakeSee the 3 modules

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What you can automate

What can you do with the NASA Make integration?

The NASA Make integration links your NASA API key to Make, a no-code tool where you build a scenario (the automation itself, a chain of bricks called modules). Once linked, Make can fetch the Picture of the Day, list several of them in one go, or call the NASA API directly, and hand the result to any other app in the scenario.

A social post that always has a visual. When a new draft lands in your content planner, Read Picture of the Day grabs the current image and Make passes it to the next module, so the post goes out with a photo attached.

A classroom archive. A science teacher can use Search Pictures of the day to pull several pictures at once and write each one as a row in a spreadsheet, ready for lesson slides.

Anything the two modules skip. The NASA API offers more than the picture of the day. Make an API Call reaches any endpoint of it with the same connection, which is handy once you know which data you need.

Keep one thing in mind: Make's own help page for NASA says it was written with AI from NASA's documentation and may contain mistakes. Check anything important against NASA directly. There's no trigger in this app either, so the scenario always starts from a schedule or from another app. If you already work with n8n, the NASA n8n integration page covers the same app there, and n8n vs Make compares both tools. New to the editor? The Make training starts from zero.

Connect

How do you connect your NASA account to Make?

  1. 01

    Generate your NASA API key

    You need a registered NASA developer account. Open the API key generation page, fill in the registration form and click Generate. The key appears on screen: copy it right away, because Make asks you to paste it in the next step.

  2. 02

    Open the connection window in Make

    Add any NASA module to your scenario and click Create a connection. The Connection name field is optional, but a clear name like "NASA marketing key" helps when several people share the workspace.

  3. 03

    Paste the key and save

    Paste the API key you copied from NASA, or follow the on-screen instructions, then confirm. That connection (your NASA account linked to Make) is stored once and reused by all three NASA modules.

First scenario

Your first scenario with NASA and Make

GoalWhen a new post idea appears in your planning tool, Make fetches the NASA Picture of the Day and hands it to the next step.

  1. 01

    Create the scenario

    From the Scenarios page, create a new scenario and click the big + to add the first module. That first module decides when everything runs.

  2. 02

    Start from your planning app

    NASA has no trigger, so pick the trigger of the app where your post ideas live, for example a new row in a spreadsheet. Connect that account the same way you connected NASA.

  3. 03

    Add Read Picture of the Day

    Click the + on the right of the first module, search for NASA and choose Read Picture of the Day. Select the connection you created earlier and fill the fields Make shows.

  4. 04

    Test with Run once

    Click Run once. Make runs the scenario one time and shows the bundle (one item passed between modules) each module received. Open the NASA bundle to see exactly what came back.

  5. 05

    Map the picture and switch it on

    Add your destination module with the + and map the NASA data into it. Check the schedule on the first module (every 15 minutes by default), then switch the scenario on.

Modules

What each NASA module does in Make

NASA gives you 3 modules. For each one: what it does for you, when to reach for it, and what to watch out for.

NASA1

Make an API Call

Action

In Make“Performs an arbitrary authorized API call”

This module sends your own request to the NASA API, using the connection you already set up, so there's no second key to manage. It opens every endpoint the two ready-made modules leave out.

When to use it
you found a dataset in NASA's API documentation that neither picture module covers and want it in the same scenario.
Watch out
you write the request yourself, so read NASA's documentation for the path and parameters first.
NASA2

Read Picture of the Day

Action

In Make“Retrieve the picture of the day.”

Read Picture of the Day returns NASA's featured astronomy image as a single bundle that the next module can use straight away, whether that's a post, a message or a spreadsheet row.

When to use it
a social post, newsletter or team message needs one fresh space visual attached.
Watch out
it's an action, not a trigger, so something else has to start the scenario. Place it after a schedule or another app's trigger.
NASA3

Search Pictures of the day

Search

In Make“List multiple pictures of the day in a single request”

Instead of one image, this search brings back several pictures of the day in one request. Make turns each one into its own bundle, so the following module runs once per picture.

When to use it
building a gallery, a lesson deck or a spreadsheet archive in one pass.
Watch out
every returned picture flows through the next modules and each run counts as an operation on your Make plan. Test with Run once to see how many come back.
Need help

Need help automating NASA with Make?

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FAQ

NASA and Make: common questions

01Is the NASA Make integration free to use?
Yes. NASA is a standard app, so it's available on Make's Free plan. That plan allows 2 active scenarios, a minimum of 15 minutes between two scheduled runs, up to 5 minutes per execution, files up to 5 MB and 512 MB of data transfer. Paid plans (Core, Pro, Teams and Enterprise) lower the interval to 1 minute, remove the cap on active scenarios and allow 40 minutes per run. Usage is counted in operations, one per module per bundle. On the NASA side, a registered developer account and an API key are required; for any subscription question, NASA sends you to its own pricing page.
02What do you need to connect NASA to Make?
A NASA API key, tied to a registered NASA developer account. You get it by registering a NASA developer account, opening the API key generation page, filling in the form and clicking Generate. Copy the key shown on screen. Then, in Make, add a NASA module, click Create a connection, give it a name if you like and paste the key. The same connection then serves all three NASA modules, so you only do this once per account. If Make shows on-screen instructions instead of a key field, follow them to finish the connection.
03Does a NASA scenario in Make run in real time?
No, not from NASA itself, because the app has no trigger module at all. You start the scenario in one of two ways. The first is Make's schedule: set it on the first module, which runs every 15 minutes by default, 15 minutes at minimum on the Free plan and 1 minute on paid plans. The second is a trigger from another app, such as a new row in a spreadsheet or a new item in your planning tool. Read Picture of the Day or Search Pictures of the day then comes right after that first module and receives its data.
04What if the NASA modules in Make miss the data you need?
Use Make an API Call. It sends any request to the NASA API using the connection you already created, so no extra setup is needed on the Make side. The two dedicated modules only handle the Picture of the Day, one image or several at once. For anything else, look up the endpoint in NASA's API documentation and call it from this module. One more point: Make's help page for NASA says it was written with AI from NASA's documentation and may contain mistakes, so verify key details with NASA before you rely on them.
05Make or n8n for NASA: which one fits?
It depends on the tool you already use. NASA has a node in n8n as well, and Hack'celeration publishes a separate guide for it. In Make, you get 3 modules: Read Picture of the Day, Search Pictures of the day and Make an API Call for anything else in the NASA API, all sharing one connection. The useful criterion is where your other automations already live and which tool your team can read comfortably. If that's n8n, the n8n guide walks through the same app there. Compare the two integration guides against your use case before you pick one.
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