So far, I’ve built the foundation of a React + Vite app that displays NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day. The project already has a custom space-themed visual identity, with a dark gradient background, branded navigation, and a simple page structure built around a main hero section.

The data flow is split cleanly between a service and a hook: nasaApi handles the request to NASA’s API, while useApod manages loading, error, and success states. The Hero component then renders the APOD title and image once the data is available, which keeps the UI logic simple and easy to extend later.

The main challenges so far have been organizing the code in a way that stays scalable and handling async API data safely from the start. I also made a deliberate decision to focus on a more intentional visual style instead of a plain starter-template look, so the app already feels like a distinct project rather than just boilerplate.