Portal:Spaceflight

The Spaceflight Portal

Main   Topics   Astronaut café Introduction Spaceflight (also written space flight) is ballistic flight into or through outer space. Spaceflight can occur with spacecraft with or without humans on board. Examples of human spaceflight include the U.S. Apollo Moon landing and Space Shuttle programs and the Russian Soyuz program, as well as the ongoing International Space Station. Examples of unmanned spaceflight include space probes that leave Earth orbit, as well as satellites in orbit around Earth, such as communications satellites. These operate either by telerobotic control or are fully autonomous. Spaceflight is used in space exploration, and also in commercial activities like space tourism and satellite telecommunications. Additional non-commercial uses of spaceflight include space observatories, reconnaissance satellites and other Earth observation satellites. Selected images Apollo 6 heads into orbit ISS crew member stores samples Columbia landing, concluding the STS-1 mission This shows an extreme ultraviolet view of the sun (the Apollo Telescope Mount SO82A Experiment) taken during Skylab 3, with the Earth added for scale. On the right an image of the Sun shows a helium emissions, and there is an image on the left showing emissions from iron. One application for spaceflight is to take observation hindered or made more difficult by being on Earth's surface. Skylab included a massive manned solar observatory that revolutionized solar science in the early 1970s using the Apollo-based space station in conjunction with manned spaceflights to it. Columbia launches again on STS-2 Sojourner takes its APXS measurement of the Yogi Rock. Selected article The CST-100 Starliner is a spacecraft design under construction by Boeing in collaboration with Bigelow Aerospace as their entry for NASA's Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program. Its primary mission is to transport crew to the International Space Station, and to private space stations such as the proposed Bigelow Aerospace Commercial Space Station. It is similar to the Orion, a spacecraft being built for NASA by Lockheed Martin. The capsule has a diameter of 4.56 meters (15.0 ft), which is slightly larger than the Apollo command module and smaller than the Orion capsule. The Starliner is to support larger crews of up to seven people. The CST-100 is designed to be able to remain on-orbit for up to seven months and for reusability for up to ten missions. It is to be compatible with multiple launch vehicles, including the Atlas V, Delta IV, and Falcon 9, as well as the planned Vulcan. The initial launch vehicle would be the Atlas V. On September 16, 2014, NASA selected the CST-100, along with SpaceX's Dragon V2, for the Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) program, with an award of $4.2 billion. The spacecraft is expected to fly to the International Space Station with an astronaut aboard by December 2017. Selected biography Glynn S. Lunney (born November 27, 1936) is a retired NASA engineer. An employee of NASA since its foundation in 1958, Lunney was a flight director during the Gemini and Apollo programs, and was on duty during historic events such as the Apollo 11 lunar ascent and the pivotal hours of the Apollo 13 crisis. At the end of the Apollo program, he became manager of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, the first collaboration in spaceflight between the United States and the Soviet Union. Later, he served as manager of the Space Shuttle program before leaving NASA in 1985 and later becoming a Vice President of the United Space Alliance. Lunney was a key figure in America's manned space program from Project Mercury through the coming of the Space Shuttle. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the National Space Trophy, which he was given by the Rotary Club in 2005. Chris Kraft, NASA's first flight director, described Lunney as "a true hero of the space age", saying that he was "one of the outstanding contributors to the exploration of space of the last four decades". Spaceflight news Next scheduled launch For a full launch schedule, see 2018 in spaceflight § Upcoming launches. On This Day 20 November 1959 - A Thor-Agena launches the Discoverer 8 satellite. 1971 - A Kosmos-3M launches the Kosmos 457 satellite. 1973 - A Kosmos-2I launches the Kosmos 608 satellite. 1974 - A Kosmos-2I launches the Kosmos 695 satellite. 1975 - A Delta 2910 launches the Explorer 55 spacecraft. 1981 - A Delta 3910 launches the Satcom 3R satellite. 1981 - A Kosmos-3M launches the Bhaskara 2 satellite. 1986 - A Molniya-M launches the Kosmos 1793 satellite. 1987 - A Soyuz-U2 launches the Progress 33 spacecraft to resupply Mir. 1990 - An Ariane 4 launches the Satcom C1 and GSTAR-4 satellites. 1990 - A Molniya-M launches the Kosmos 2105 satellite. 1991 - A Soyuz-U launches the Kosmos 2171 satellite. 1992 - A Soyuz-U launches the Kosmos 2220 satellite. 1993 - An Ariane 4 launches the Solidarad 1 and Meteosat 6 satellites. 1994 - A Proton-K launches three GLONASS satellites. 1998 - A Proton-K launches Zarya, the first module of the International Space Station. 2000 - A Kosmos-3M fails to launch the QuickBird 1 satellite. 2002 - The Delta IV makes its maiden flight, launching the Eutelsat W5 satellite. 2004 - A Delta II launches the Swift satellite. 2009 - A Soyuz-U launches the Kosmos 2455 spacecraft. 2010 - A Minotaur IV launches the STPSat-2, NanoSail-D2, FASTSAT, RAX, O/OREOS, FalconSat-5, FASTRAC 1&2 satellites. 2011 - A Long March 2D launches the Shiyan Weixing 4 and Chuangxin 1-03 satellites. 2012 - A Proton-M launches the Echostar XVI satellite. 2013 - A Minotaur I launches STPSat-3 and 28 other satellites, breaking the record for the most number of satellites launched at the same time. 2013 - A Long March 4C launches the Yaogan 19 satellite. View: Today | November | All Did you know... ...that engineers claim the Ares I rocket (pictured) would be more aerodynamically stable if flying backwards than in the normal direction? …that Project Juno resulted in the launch of the first British astronaut, Helen Sharman, aboard Soyuz TM-12? …that the first words from the surface of the Moon were "Contact light, okay, engine stop", spoken by Buzz Aldrin? Key topics Astrodynamics • Human spaceflight • ISS • Orbit • Outer space • Robotic spacecraft • Rocket • Satellite • Space exploration • Spaceflight • Timeline of spaceflight Related portals Space Technology Aviation Robotics European Space Agency Solar System Astronomy Science Related WikiProjects WikiProject Spaceflight WikiProject Aviation WikiProject Military history WikiProject Solar System WikiProject Astronomy Associated Wikimedia