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119-410: Proteus has an all-composite airframe with graphite-epoxy sandwich construction. Its wingspan of 77 feet 7 inches (23.65 m) is expandable to 92 feet (28 m) with removable wingtips installed. Proteus is an "optionally piloted" aircraft ordinarily flown by two pilots in a pressurized cabin. However, it also has the capability to perform its missions semi-autonomously or flown remotely from

238-402: A sailplane to a high-speed jet, flew 20 scenarios over a four-day period, one or two aircraft at a time. In each case, the radar picked up the intruding aircraft at ranges from 2.5 to 6.5 miles (10.5 km), depending on the intruder's radar signature. Proteus' remote pilot on the ground was able to direct Proteus to take evasive action if needed. The International H2O Project (IHOP 2002) was

357-821: A computer monitor at the show only moments after they were taken. Proteus' first science mission was to carry the National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Airborne Sounder Testbed – Interferometer (NAST-I) instrument in March 2000 during the Cloud-Intensive Operating Period over the Department of Energy Cloud and Radiation Testbed (CART) site. The flights, based out of Stilwell, Oklahoma , encompassed 30 flight hours over

476-628: A decade of reliance on the Russians. In 2019, NASA announced the Artemis program , intending to return to the Moon and establish a permanent human presence. This was paired with the Artemis Accords with partner nations to establish rules of behavior and norms of space commercialization on the Moon. In 2023, NASA established the Moon to Mars Program office. The office is designed to oversee

595-869: A field experiment which took place over the Southern Great Plains of the United States from May 13 to June 25, 2002. The chief aim of IHOP 2002 was improved characterization of the four-dimensional (4-D) distribution of water vapor and its application to improving the understanding and prediction of convection. The NASA Holographic Airborne Rotating Lidar Instrument Experiment was flown as a part of this project. Flights were performed in coordination with Lockheed P-3 and DC-8 aircraft. In July 2002, Proteus participated in Crystal-FACE, measuring tropical cirrus clouds, operating from Key West, Florida , flying as far south as Belize . For this phase of

714-1009: A launch vehicle to monitor its trajectory, and if necessary initiate pyrotechnic devices to terminate the flight. LCT2 is an effort to produce a relatively low-cost transceiver to allow launch vehicles to communicate through NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) after they have gone over the horizon from the launch site. LCT2 is being pursued as part of the Space Based Range Demonstration and Certification (SBRDC) program (formerly called Space Based Telemetry and Range Safety (STARS)) in cooperation with NASA Kennedy Space Center. WFF's primary mission areas are as follows: With its sounding rocket, aircraft, and balloon flights carrying scientific payloads, its aeronautical systems testing, its range support for Space Shuttle launches, and its educational outreach activities, WFF supports all of NASA's Mission Directorates and practically all of their respective themes: In 1998,

833-647: A month after the Soviet Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space, executing a full orbital spaceflight. NASA's first orbital spaceflight was conducted by John Glenn on February 20, 1962, in the Friendship 7 , making three full orbits before reentering. Glenn had to fly parts of his final two orbits manually due to an autopilot malfunction. The sixth and final Mercury mission was flown by Gordon Cooper in May 1963, performing 22 orbits over 34 hours in

952-583: A permanently manned space station and to do it within a decade. In 1985, NASA proposed the Space Station Freedom , which both the agency and President Reagan intended to be an international program. While this would add legitimacy to the program, there were concerns within NASA that the international component would dilute its authority within the project, having never been willing to work with domestic or international partners as true equals. There

1071-650: A possible source of antimatter at the center of the Milky Way and observing that the majority of gamma-ray bursts occur outside of the Milky Way galaxy. The Chandra X-ray Observatory was launched from the Columbia on STS-93 in 1999, observing black holes, quasars , supernova , and dark matter . It provided critical observations on the Sagittarius A* black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy and

1190-553: A separate facility, Wallops Station , operating directly under NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. In 1959, NASA acquired the former Naval Air Station Chincoteague , and engineering and administrative activities were moved to this location. In 1974, the Wallops Station was named Wallops Flight Center . The name was changed to Wallops Flight Facility in 1981, when it became part of Goddard Space Flight Center. In

1309-540: A space station since the agency was created. In 1973, following the end of the Apollo lunar missions, NASA launched its first space station, Skylab , on the final launch of the Saturn   V. Skylab reused a significant amount of Apollo and Saturn hardware, with a repurposed Saturn   V third stage serving as the primary module for the space station. Damage to Skylab during its launch required spacewalks to be performed by

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1428-681: A target for development of the Boeing YAL-1 Airborne Laser system. The pod housed an array of over 2000 small holes containing optical sensors to detect the laser system. Due to scheduling constraints with other Proteus customers, the Airborne Laser never conducted an actual flight test with the Proteus target system. A target system was designed and integrated into the NKC-135 Big Crow aircraft and used for

1547-471: A telecommunications platform. The Proteus is the current holder of a number of FAI world records for altitude (class: C1-e: landplanes 3,000–6,000 kg, Group: 3, turbojet), set in cooperation with NASA Dryden. The highest altitude achieved was 63,245 feet (19,277 m) in October 2000. Proteus was included in the list of the "100 Best of 1998 Design", by Time magazine, December 21, 1998. Due to

1666-532: A third ramp adjoins the Crash, Fire and Rescue building. The primary research runway has a test section with a variety of surface textures and materials for runway research projects. Weather measurements and predictions are critical to all Research Airport operations, rocket and balloon launches, and in safely conducting hazardous operations on the ground. Wallops meteorological services provide measurements of upper atmospheric and magnetic phenomena to augment and enable

1785-535: A variety of antennas, receivers, and display instrumentation systems. Command uplink and optical tracking facilities are included as part of the range. The range also provides premier digital photographic and video services including operation of numerous still cameras, high speed and video systems for Range Safety support, surveillance, and post-launch analysis (e.g., failure analysis), project documentation (e.g., fabrication and test), administrative documentation, and archiving for environmental studies. In addition, WFF has

1904-479: A variety of communications systems and facilities to route voice, video, and data in support of launch processing, flight, and test operations. The WFF Research Airport is located on the Main Base. There are three runways (from 4,810 feet (1,470 m) to 8,750 feet (2,670 m) long), two taxiways , three ramps, and one hazardous cargo loading area in active service. Two ramps adjoin the two active hangars, and

2023-403: A water ingestion test flight. Only minor injuries to a copilot and flight engineer were reported. There were no ground injuries. The airplane was being used to test a new nose wheel tire. For the test, the airplane was passed through a "pool" or "trough" of water on the runway at different speeds. The pilot failed to obtain/maintain alignment with the water pool and lost control. The plane departed

2142-732: A week and a half, characterizing cloud properties and validating the instrument. Then, in September and October 2000, during the Water-Vapor Intensive Operating Period, Proteus and NAST flew validation flights studying upper tropospheric water vapor and performing underflights of the Terra satellite. In November–December 2000, Proteus flew as part of the DOE's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program and their water vapor experiments. Flights were essentially

2261-756: Is operated by the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland , and primarily serves to support science and exploration missions for NASA and other federal agencies . WFF includes an extensively instrumented range to support launches of more than a dozen types of sounding rockets ; small expendable suborbital and orbital rockets; high-altitude balloon flights carrying scientific instruments for atmospheric and astronomical research; and, using its Research Airport, flight tests of aeronautical research aircraft, including unmanned aerial vehicles . There have been over 16,000 launches from

2380-636: Is the launch system for Rutan's Tier One spacecraft and the DARPA X-37 . Flight testing of the Proteus began with its first flight on July 26, 1998, at the Mojave Airport and continued through the end of 1999. In June, Proteus was deployed internationally for the first time, debuting at the Paris Air Show . It was flown non-stop from Bangor, Maine to Paris . During the week-long show, it flew each day, demonstrating its capabilities as

2499-536: Is using the Proteus to research new UAV technologies, as it can be controlled from the cockpit , a ground control station, or operate semi-autonomously. Scaled, in partnership with Northrop Grumman, is offering a fully uncrewed version of the Proteus, labeled Model 395 , as part of the competition for the USAF Hunter-Killer competition. If selected, that product would have been flown in 2007. On February 24, 2005, Proteus became Scaled's first bomber with

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2618-590: The Faith 7 . The Mercury Program was wildly recognized as a resounding success, achieving its objectives to orbit a human in space, develop tracking and control systems, and identify other issues associated with human spaceflight. While much of NASA's attention turned to space, it did not put aside its aeronautics mission. Early aeronautics research attempted to build upon the X-1's supersonic flight to build an aircraft capable of hypersonic flight . The North American X-15

2737-693: The Army Ballistic Missile Agency would launch Explorer 1 , America's first satellite, on February 1, 1958. The Eisenhower Administration decided to split the United States' military and civil spaceflight programs, which were organized together under the Defense Department 's Advanced Research Projects Agency . NASA was established on July 29, 1958, with the signing of the National Aeronautics and Space Act and it began operations on October 1, 1958. As

2856-803: The Bell X-1 in a joint program with the U.S. Air Force . NACA's interest in space grew out of its rocketry program at the Pilotless Aircraft Research Division. The Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik 1 ushered in the Space Age and kicked off the Space Race . Despite NACA's early rocketry program, the responsibility for launching the first American satellite fell to the Naval Research Laboratory 's Project Vanguard , whose operational issues ensured

2975-742: The Big Bang , through the James Webb Space Telescope , the four Great Observatories , and associated programs. The Launch Services Program oversees launch operations for its uncrewed launches . NASA traces its roots to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). Despite being the birthplace of aviation, by 1914 the United States recognized that it was far behind Europe in aviation capability. Determined to regain American leadership in aviation,

3094-622: The Big Bang . The James Webb Space Telescope , named after the NASA administrator who lead the Apollo program, is an infrared observatory launched in 2021. The James Webb Space Telescope is a direct successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, intended to observe the formation of the first galaxies. Other space telescopes include the Kepler space telescope , launched in 2009 to identify planets orbiting extrasolar stars that may be Terran and possibly harbor life. The first exoplanet that

3213-981: The Commercial Crew Program , and oversees the development of the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System for the lunar Artemis program . NASA's science division is focused on better understanding Earth through the Earth Observing System ; advancing heliophysics through the efforts of the Science Mission Directorate 's Heliophysics Research Program; exploring bodies throughout the Solar System with advanced robotic spacecraft such as New Horizons and planetary rovers such as Perseverance ; and researching astrophysics topics, such as

3332-797: The Environmental Science Services Administration on a series of weather satellites and the agency launched its experimental Applications Technology Satellites into geosynchronous orbit. NASA's first dedicated Earth observation satellite, Landsat , was launched in 1972. This led to NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration jointly developing the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite and discovering Ozone depletion . NASA had been pursuing spaceplane development since

3451-691: The Europa and observed that the moon may hold ice or liquid water. A joint NASA- European Space Agency - Italian Space Agency mission, Cassini–Huygens , was sent to Saturn 's moon Titan , which, along with Mars and Europa, are the only celestial bodies in the Solar System suspected of being capable of harboring life. Cassini discovered three new moons of Saturn and the Huygens probe entered Titan's atmosphere. The mission discovered evidence of liquid hydrocarbon lakes on Titan and subsurface water oceans on

3570-784: The Johnson Space Center as the lead center for the design, development, and manufacturing of the Space Shuttle orbiter , while the Marshall Space Flight Center would lead the development of the launch system. NASA's series of lifting body aircraft, culminating in the joint NASA-U.S. Air Force Martin Marietta X-24 , directly informed the development of the Space Shuttle and future hypersonic flight aircraft. Official development of

3689-664: The Mars Global Surveyor orbiter and Mars Pathfinder , deploying the first Mars rover, Sojourner . During the early 2000s, the 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter reached the planet and in 2004 the Sprit and Opportunity rovers landed on the Red Planet. This was followed in 2005 by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and 2007 Phoenix Mars lander. The 2012 landing of Curiosity discovered that

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3808-538: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and occasionally for foreign governments and commercial organizations. Wallops also supports development tests and exercises involving United States Navy aircraft and ship-based electronics and weapon systems in the Virginia Capes operating area, near the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay . In addition to its fixed-location instrumentation assets,

3927-614: The Orbiting Geophysical Observatory in the 1960s and 1970s to look down at Earth and observe its interactions with the Sun. The Uhuru satellite was the first dedicated x-ray telescope, mapping 85% of the sky and discovering a large number of black holes . Launched in the 1990s and early 2000s, the Great Observatories program are among NASA's most powerful telescopes. The Hubble Space Telescope

4046-658: The STS-1 mission, designed to serve as a flight test for the new spaceplane. NASA intended for the Space Shuttle to replace expendable launch systems like the Air Force's Atlas , Delta , and Titan and the European Space Agency 's Ariane . The Space Shuttle's Spacelab payload, developed by the European Space Agency, increased the scientific capabilities of shuttle missions over anything NASA

4165-635: The STS-60 mission in 1994 and the Discovery rendezvoused, but did not dock with, the Russian Mir in the STS-63 mission. This was followed by Atlantis' STS-71 mission where it accomplished the initial intended mission for the Space Shuttle, docking with a space station and transferring supplies and personnel. The Shuttle- Mir program would continue until 1998, when a series of orbital accidents on

4284-477: The Space Race when the Soviet Union gave up its lunar ambitions. As the first human to step on the surface of the Moon, Neil Armstrong uttered the now famous words: That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. NASA would conduct six total lunar landings as part of the Apollo program, with Apollo   17 concluding the program in 1972. Wernher von Braun had advocated for NASA to develop

4403-620: The Space Shuttle began in 1972, with Rockwell International contracted to design the orbiter and engines, Martin Marietta for the external fuel tank , and Morton Thiokol for the solid rocket boosters . NASA acquired six orbiters: the Enterprise , Columbia , Challenger , Discovery , Atlantis , and Endeavour The Space Shuttle program also allowed NASA to make major changes to its Astronaut Corps . While almost all previous astronauts were Air Force or Naval test pilots,

4522-620: The United States Congress created the Aviation Section of the U.S. Army Signal Corps in 1914 and established NACA in 1915 to foster aeronautical research and development. Over the next forty years, NACA would conduct aeronautical research in support of the U.S. Air Force , U.S. Army , U.S. Navy , and the civil aviation sector. After the end of World War II , NACA became interested in the possibilities of guided missiles and supersonic aircraft, developing and testing

4641-748: The Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority , later joined by Maryland , built the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops on land leased from NASA. In December 2006, the facility made its first launch. The Wallops Visitor Center has a variety of hands-on exhibits and hosts weekly educational activities and programs to enable children to explore and learn about the technologies designed and used by NASA researchers and scientists. In addition, one Saturday each month, NASA invites model rocketry enthusiasts to launch their own rockets from

4760-405: The inner planets . Despite these successes, Congress was unwilling to fund further interplanetary missions and NASA Administrator James Webb suspended all future interplanetary probes to focus resources on the Apollo program. Following the conclusion of the Apollo program, NASA resumed launching interplanetary probes and expanded its space science program. The first planet tagged for exploration

4879-584: The refractive index of air caused by sea breeze fronts, gust fronts, and various forms of clear air turbulence . The Wallops mobile range instrumentation includes telemetry, radar, command and power systems. These assets are used as needed to supplement instrumentation at existing ranges, or to establish a temporary range to ensure safety and collect data to support the rocket customers in a remote location where no other range instrumentation exists. This complement of transportable systems can be deployed to provide complete range capabilities at remote locations around

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4998-524: The 1960s, blending the administration's dual aeronautics and space missions. NASA viewed a spaceplane as part of a larger program, providing routine and economical logistical support to a space station in Earth orbit that would be used as a hub for lunar and Mars missions. A reusable launch vehicle would then have ended the need for expensive and expendable boosters like the Saturn V . In 1969, NASA designated

5117-437: The 44 commercial companies that contracted with NASA to deploy their satellites to return to expendable launch vehicles. When the Space Shuttle returned to flight with the STS-26 mission, it had undergone significant modifications to improve its reliability and safety. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation and United States initiated the Shuttle- Mir program . The first Russian cosmonaut flew on

5236-450: The Air Force as the military space lead. Plans for human spaceflight began in the U.S. Armed Forces prior to NASA's creation. The Air Force's Man in Space Soonest project formed in 1956, coupled with the Army's Project Adam, served as the foundation for Project Mercury . NASA established the Space Task Group to manage the program, which would conduct crewed sub-orbital flights with the Army's Redstone rockets and orbital flights with

5355-448: The Air Force's Atlas launch vehicles. While NASA intended for its first astronauts to be civilians, President Eisenhower directed that they be selected from the military. The Mercury 7 astronauts included three Air Force pilots, three Navy aviators, and one Marine Corps pilot. On May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American to enter space, performing a suborbital spaceflight in the Freedom 7 . This flight occurred less than

5474-410: The Apollo program. Despite attacks on the goal of landing astronauts on the Moon from the former president Dwight Eisenhower and 1964 presidential candidate Barry Goldwater , President Kennedy was able to protect NASA's growing budget, of which 50% went directly to human spaceflight and it was later estimated that, at its height, 5% of Americans worked on some aspect of the Apollo program. Mirroring

5593-433: The Arctic and Antarctic regions, South America , Africa, Europe, Australia , and at sea. Workers at Wallops include approximately 1,000 full-time NASA civil service employees and the employees of contractors, about 30 U.S. Navy personnel, and about 100 employees of NOAA. In 1945, NASA's predecessor agency, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), established a rocket launch site on Wallops Island under

5712-478: The Army Ballistic Missile Agency's original Saturn   I . The Apollo spacecraft was designed and built by North American Aviation , while the Apollo Lunar Module was designed and built by Grumman . To develop the spaceflight skills and equipment required for a lunar mission, NASA initiated Project Gemini . Using a modified Air Force Titan   II launch vehicle, the Gemini capsule could hold two astronauts for flights of over two weeks. Gemini pioneered

5831-426: The Department of Defense's program management concept using redundant systems in building the first intercontinental ballistic missiles, NASA requested the Air Force assign Major General Samuel C. Phillips to the space agency where he would serve as the director of the Apollo program. Development of the Saturn   V rocket was led by Wernher von Braun and his team at the Marshall Space Flight Center , derived from

5950-439: The Keplar space telescope confirmed was Kepler-22b , orbiting within the habitable zone of its star. NASA also launched a number of different satellites to study Earth, such as Television Infrared Observation Satellite (TIROS) in 1960, which was the first weather satellite. NASA and the United States Weather Bureau cooperated on future TIROS and the second generation Nimbus program of weather satellites. It also worked with

6069-453: The Main Base, the Mainland, and the Wallops Island Launch Site. The Mainland and the Wallops Island Launch Site are about 7 miles (11 km) southeast of the Main Base. Wallops operates controlled airspace with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) qualified air traffic controllers including: Major Wallops facilities include FAA-certified runways ; an experimental UAV runway; and crash, fire, and rescue services. WFF has facilities for

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6188-448: The Martian interior. The 2021 Perseverance rover carried the first extraplanetary aircraft, a helicopter named Ingenuity . NASA also launched missions to Mercury in 2004, with the MESSENGER probe demonstrating as the first use of a solar sail . NASA also launched probes to the outer Solar System starting in the 1960s. Pioneer 10 was the first probe to the outer planets, flying by Jupiter , while Pioneer 11 provided

6307-402: The Moon and going to Mars. Embracing this approach, NASA's Commercial Crew Program started by contracting cargo delivery to the International Space Station and flew its first operational contracted mission on SpaceX Crew-1 . This marked the first time since the retirement of the Space Shuttle that NASA was able to launch its own astronauts on an American spacecraft from the United States, ending

6426-404: The Moon and returning him safely to Earth by the end of the 1960s and installed James E. Webb as NASA administrator to achieve this goal. On May   25, 1961, President Kennedy openly declared this goal in his "Urgent National Needs" speech to the United States Congress, declaring: I believe this Nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on

6545-427: The Moon and returning him safely to Earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish. Kennedy gave his " We choose to go to the Moon " speech the next year, on September   12, 1962 at Rice University , where he addressed the nation hoping to reinforce public support for

6664-440: The NASA ERAST Project . Proteus was flown as a surrogate UAV controlled remotely from the ground, although safety pilots were aboard to handle takeoff and landing and any potential emergencies. Three other aircraft, ranging from general aviation aircraft to a NASA F/A-18 , served as "cooperative" target aircraft with an operating transponder. In each of 18 different scenarios, a Goodrich Skywatch HP Traffic Advisory System (TAS) on

6783-429: The North Pole in March 2001. Proteus took part in the NASA Chesapeake Lighthouse & Aircraft Measurements for Satellites (CLAMS) program in July and August 2001, flying out of NASA's Wallops Flight Facility . The project used a number of different aircraft to develop methods of measuring ocean characteristics, and estimates of aerosols. In February 2002, Proteus carried a 30-foot-long (9.1 m) pod which served as

6902-404: The Proteus detected approaching air traffic on potential collision courses, including several scenarios with two aircraft approaching from different directions. The remote pilot then directed Proteus to turn, climb or descend as needed to avoid the potential threat. In April 2003, a second series of flight demonstrations focusing on "non-cooperative" aircraft (those without operating transponders),

7021-409: The Russians be included. In 1993, the Clinton Administration announced that the Space Station Freedom would become the International Space Station in an agreement with the Russian Federation. This allowed the Russians to maintain their space program through an infusion of American currency to maintain their status as one of the two premier space programs. While the United States built and launched

7140-507: The Russians to fly to the International Space Station for four days, despite the opposition of NASA to the idea. Advocates of this new commercial approach for NASA included former astronaut Buzz Aldrin , who remarked that it would return NASA to its roots as a research and development agency, with commercial entities actually operating the space systems. Having corporations take over orbital operations would also allow NASA to focus all its efforts on deep space exploration and returning humans to

7259-422: The Solar System. Mars has long been a planet of intense fascination for NASA, being suspected of potentially having harbored life. Mariner 5 was the first NASA spacecraft to flyby Mars, followed by Mariner 6 and Mariner 7 . Mariner 9 was the first orbital mission to Mars. Launched in 1975, Viking program consisted of two landings on Mars in 1976. Follow-on missions would not be launched until 1996, with

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7378-404: The Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003, NASA was forced to rely on Russian Soyuz launches for its astronauts and the 2011 retirement of the Space Shuttle accelerated the station's completion. In the 1980s, right after the first flight of the Space Shuttle, NASA started a joint program with the Department of Defense to develop the Rockwell X-30 National Aerospace Plane. NASA realized that

7497-418: The Space Shuttle allowed NASA to begin recruiting more non-military scientific and technical experts. A prime example is Sally Ride , who became the first American woman to fly in space on STS-7 . This new astronaut selection process also allowed NASA to accept exchange astronauts from U.S. allies and partners for the first time. The first Space Shuttle flight occurred in 1981, when the Columbia launched on

7616-443: The Space Shuttle and expand space exploration beyond low Earth orbit. Constellation was intended to use a significant amount of former Space Shuttle equipment and return astronauts to the Moon. This program was canceled by the Obama Administration . Former astronauts Neil Armstrong , Gene Cernan , and Jim Lovell sent a letter to President Barack Obama to warn him that if the United States did not get new human spaceflight ability,

7735-478: The Space Shuttle began flying, selling it as an orbital laboratory, repair station, and a jumping off point for lunar and Mars missions. NASA found a strong advocate in President Ronald Reagan , who declared in a 1984 speech: America has always been greatest when we dared to be great. We can reach for greatness again. We can follow our dreams to distant stars, living and working in space for peaceful, economic, and scientific gain. Tonight I am directing NASA to develop

7854-444: The Space Shuttle, while a massive technological accomplishment, would not be able to live up to all its promises. Designed to be a single-stage-to-orbit spaceplane, the X-30 had both civil and military applications. With the end of the Cold War , the X-30 was canceled in 1992 before reaching flight status. Following the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003, President Bush started the Constellation program to smoothly replace

7973-483: The Space Shuttle. Due to technical challenges, the spacecraft was cancelled in 2001. Despite this, it was the first time a commercial space company directly expended a significant amount of its resources into spacecraft development. The advent of space tourism also forced NASA to challenge its assumption that only governments would have people in space. The first space tourist was Dennis Tito , an American investment manager and former aerospace engineer who contracted with

8092-507: The Space Station Freedom was controversial, with much of the debate centering on cost. Several redesigns to reduce cost were conducted in the early 1990s, stripping away much of its functions. Despite calls for Congress to terminate the program, it continued, in large part because by 1992 it had created 75,000 jobs across 39 states. By 1993, President Bill Clinton attempted to significantly reduce NASA's budget and directed costs be significantly reduced, aerospace industry jobs were not lost, and

8211-399: The U.S. risked become a second or third-rate space power. As early as the Reagan Administration, there had been calls for NASA to expand private sector involvement in space exploration rather than do it all in-house. In the 1990s, NASA and Lockheed Martin entered into an agreement to develop the Lockheed Martin X-33 demonstrator of the VentureStar spaceplane, which was intended to replace

8330-409: The U.S. space development effort a distinct civilian orientation, emphasizing peaceful applications in space science . It has since led most of America's space exploration programs, including Project Mercury , Project Gemini , the 1968–1972 Apollo Moon landing missions, the Skylab space station, and the Space Shuttle . Currently, NASA supports the International Space Station (ISS) along with

8449-409: The US's premier aeronautics agency, NACA formed the core of NASA's new structure by reassigning 8,000 employees and three major research laboratories. NASA also proceeded to absorb the Naval Research Laboratory's Project Vanguard, the Army's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and the Army Ballistic Missile Agency under Wernher von Braun . This left NASA firmly as the United States' civil space lead and

8568-492: The WFF range includes mobile radar , telemetry receivers, and command transmitters that can be transported by cargo planes to locations around the world, in order to establish a temporary range where no other instrumentation exists, to ensure safety, and to collect data in order to enable and support suborbital rocket launches from remote sites. The WFF mobile range assets have been used to support rocket launches from locations in

8687-717: The WFF rocket launch site. NASA personnel also participate, launching models of various rockets and explaining the spacecraft they carry in real life. The schedule for sounding rocket launches from WFF is posted on its official Web site. For many years WFF was home to the NSIP Sub-SEM and SEM projects. NSIP stands for the NASA Student Involvement Project, the Sub-SEM project was to design one of four experiments that would be inserted into an ORION-II one-stage rocket and launched above 98 percent of

8806-513: The World's Aircraft 2003–2004 General characteristics Performance Related development NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA / ˈ n æ s ə / ) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government responsible for the civil space program , aeronautics research, and space research. Established in 1958 , it succeeded the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) to give

8925-511: The atmosphere, and experience over 30 Gs of centrifugal force, while SEM was to design an experiment that would be flown on a future Space Shuttle mission. Each project gave 16 students and four teachers (four students and one teacher from each high school) the opportunity to spend an almost all-expense-paid week at WFF. Normally the students and teachers stayed in the Mariner Motel, now a Holiday Inn, conducting experiments and learning about

9044-456: The collection of scientific data by sensors aboard flight vehicles. The S-band Doppler radar system at Wallops, known as SPANDAR, is capable of automatic unambiguous tracking of targets up to 60,000 kilometers away. It can detect a single raindrop of 3 millimeters at a range of 10 kilometers and cloud water content as little as 1 gram per cubic meter. SPANDAR's sensitivity with its 60-foot (18 m) dish antenna can detect small changes in

9163-696: The cost and responsiveness of launch and flight test activities, within the constraints of available funding and program schedules. Specifically, NASA Wallops has been leading two range technology development projects: the Autonomous Flight Safety System (AFSS) and the Low Cost TDRSS Transceiver (LCT2). AFSS is a project to develop an autonomous on-board system that could augment or replace traditional ground-commanded Range Safety flight termination systems. The AFSS would use redundant sensors and processors on board

9282-693: The direction of the Langley Research Center . This site was designated the Pilotless Aircraft Research Station and conducted high-speed aerodynamic research to supplement wind tunnel and laboratory investigations into the problems of flight. In 1958, Congress established NASA, which absorbed Langley Research Center and other NACA field centers and research facilities. At that time, the Pilotless Aircraft Research Station became

9401-625: The early years, research at Wallops concentrated on obtaining aerodynamic data at transonic and low supersonic speeds. Between 1959 and 1961, Project Mercury capsules were tested at Wallops in support of NASA's crewed space flight program - the Mercury program - before astronauts were launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Some of these tests using the Little Joe booster rocket were designed to flight-qualify components of

9520-569: The facility. Following the presidential mandate and budget cuts the entire NSIP program, SEM and Sub-SEM included, was shut down. On April 2, 1957, a Lockheed P2V-6 Neptune exploded in midair after takeoff from what was then known as Naval Auxiliary Air Station Chincoteague . All eleven occupants of the aircraft died. On October 23, 1995, the maiden flight of a Conestoga 1620 rocket failed 46 seconds after liftoff, resulting in disintegration. EER Space Systems , Conestoga's manufacturer, concluded that low frequency noise from an unknown source upset

9639-420: The first close up view of the planet. Both probes became the first objects to leave the Solar System. The Voyager program launched in 1977, conducting flybys of Jupiter and Saturn , Neptune , and Uranus on a trajectory to leave the Solar System. The Galileo spacecraft, deployed from the Space Shuttle flight STS-34 , was the first spacecraft to orbit Jupiter, discovering evidence of subsurface oceans on

9758-515: The first crew to make it habitable and operational. Skylab hosted nine missions and was decommissioned in 1974 and deorbited in 1979, two years prior to the first launch of the Space Shuttle and any possibility of boosting its orbit. In 1975, the Apollo–Soyuz mission was the first ever international spaceflight and a major diplomatic accomplishment between the Cold War rivals, which also marked

9877-402: The first humans to see the Earth as a globe in space, the first to witness an Earthrise , and the first to see and manually photograph the far side of the Moon. The first lunar landing was conducted by Apollo   11. Commanded by Neil Armstrong with astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins , Apollo   11 was one of the most significant missions in NASA's history, marking the end of

9996-491: The ground. Under NASA 's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) project, NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center assisted Scaled Composites in developing a sophisticated station-keeping autopilot system and a satellite communications (SATCOM)-based uplink-downlink data system for Proteus' performance and payload data. The Proteus wing was adapted for use on the Model 318 White Knight carrier aircraft, which

10115-474: The guidance system on the rocket causing it to order course corrections when none were needed. The rocket went off course when its first stage steering mechanism ran out of hydraulic fluid and became inoperable. After this failure, the Conestoga program was terminated, and EER abandoned the launch business. At the time of the launch, the Conestoga was the largest rocket ever launched from Wallops Island, and it

10234-555: The largest payloads carried by Proteus to date. Actual flight testing of the MP-RTIP system began in late September 2006, with initial flight reaching 100 knots (120 mph; 190 km/h) and 22,000 feet (6,700 m) altitude. Proteus has set several world altitude records in FAI Class C-1e (Landplanes: takeoff weight 3,000 to 6,000 kg (6,600 to 13,200 lb)), Group 2, turbojet, including: Data from Jane's All

10353-451: The last flight of the Apollo capsule. Flown in 1975, a U.S. Apollo spacecraft docked with a Soviet Soyuz capsule. During the 1960s, NASA started its space science and interplanetary probe program. The Mariner program was its flagship program, launching probes to Venus , Mars , and Mercury in the 1960s. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory was the lead NASA center for robotic interplanetary exploration, making significant discoveries about

10472-512: The left side of the runway, and struck a pickup truck parked adjacent to the runway. On August 22, 2008, an ALV X-1 sounding rocket was intentionally destroyed 20 seconds into flight after veering too far off course. On October 28, 2014, a failure occurred in an Antares rocket, carrying Cygnus CRS Orb-3 , shortly after launch and destroyed both the rocket and the payload at the adjacent Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Launch Pad 0A . The NASA Wallops Flight Facility has alliances with

10591-452: The majority of Airborne Laser testing. In March 2002, NASA Dryden, in cooperation with New Mexico State University 's Technical Analysis and Applications Center (TAAC), the FAA and several other entities, conducted flight demonstrations of an active detect, see and avoid (DSA) system for potential application to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) out of Las Cruces, New Mexico . This was a part of

10710-515: The majority of the International Space Station, Russia, Canada, Japan, and the European Space Agency all contributed components. Despite NASA's insistence that costs would be kept at a budget of $ 17.4, they kept rising and NASA had to transfer funds from other programs to keep the International Space Station solvent. Ultimately, the total cost of the station was $ 150 billion, with the United States paying for two-thirds.Following

10829-634: The moon of Enceladus , which could harbor life. Finally launched in 2006, the New Horizons mission was the first spacecraft to visit Pluto and the Kuiper Belt . Beyond interplanetary probes, NASA has launched many space telescopes . Launched in the 1960s, the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory were NASA's first orbital telescopes, providing ultraviolet, gamma-ray, x-ray, and infrared observations. NASA launched

10948-419: The multimission nature of the aircraft, it has been involved in a number of significant research projects and missions. Scaled Composites, a wholly owned subsidiary of Northrop Grumman, actively markets the aircraft as a research platform, and has published a user's guide for planning proposed missions. Proteus was originally conceived as a high-altitude, long operation (HALO) telecommunications platform. Proteus

11067-614: The project, the aircraft was configured with 10-foot (3.0 m) canards and 13 + 1 ⁄ 2 -foot wingtip extensions. Proteus has been used in a number of deployments as a part of a project sponsored by the DOE's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement program and the Sandia National Laboratories to study cirrus clouds in the upper atmosphere. In May and June 2005, Transformational Space Corp., or t/Space , flight tested their rocket release concept utilizing Scaled Composites' Proteus. A captive-carry test flight

11186-705: The radiation levels on Mars were equal to those on the International Space Station , greatly increasing the possibility of Human exploration, and observed the key chemical ingredients for life to occur. In 2013, the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution ( MAVEN ) mission observed the Martian upper atmosphere and space environment and in 2018, the Interior exploration using Seismic Investigations Geodesy, and Heat Transport ( InSight ) studied

11305-524: The receipt, inspection, assembly, checkout and storage of rocket motors and other hazardous pyrotechnic devices . The Wallops Island Launch Site includes six launch pads , three blockhouses for launch control, and assembly buildings to support the preparation and launching of suborbital and orbital launch vehicles. The Wallops Research Range includes ground-based and mobile systems, and a range control center. Its radar facilities and systems are used for tracking and surveillance. Telemetry facilities include

11424-695: The release of an inert 500-pound weapon over Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada . On April 27, 2006, Proteus flight tested a large pod designed to house a developmental version of the Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program , or MP-RTIP. This is a long range, high resolution air-to-ground and air-to-air synthetic aperture radar system being developed for use on the RQ-4 Global Hawk . This pod is, by function of its length and frontal area, one of

11543-457: The rocket testing range at Wallops since its founding in 1945 in the quest for information on the flight characteristics of airplanes, launch vehicles, and spacecraft, and to increase the knowledge of the Earth's upper atmosphere and the environment of outer space . The launch vehicles vary in size and power from the small Super Loki meteorological rockets to orbital-class vehicles. The Wallops Flight Facility also supports science missions for

11662-684: The same as was flown for the NAST Water-Vapor Intensive Operating Period validation flights. As part of the TRACE-P (Transport and Chemical Evolution over the Pacific) mission, Proteus once again carried the NAST pod during March 2001. The aircraft logged 126 flight hours, and was variously based out of Alaska, Hawaii and Japan, gathering data in coordination with ground, balloon and satellite sensor packages over

11781-507: The satellites were repaired and relaunched. Despite ushering in a new era of spaceflight, where NASA was contracting launch services to commercial companies, the Space Shuttle was criticized for not being as reusable and cost-effective as advertised. In 1986, Challenger disaster on the STS-51L mission resulted in the loss of the spacecraft and all seven astronauts on launch, grounding the entire space shuttle fleet for 36 months and forced

11900-676: The separation of dark and regular matter during galactic collisions. Finally, the Spitzer Space Telescope is an infrared telescope launched in 2003 from a Delta II rocket. It is in a trailing orbit around the Sun, following the Earth and discovered the existence of brown dwarf stars . Other telescopes, such as the Cosmic Background Explorer and the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe , provided evidence to support

12019-560: The setback caused by the Apollo   1 fire, which killed three astronauts, the program proceeded. Apollo   8 was the first crewed spacecraft to leave low Earth orbit and the first human spaceflight to reach the Moon . The crew orbited the Moon ten times on December   24 and   25, 1968, and then traveled safely back to Earth . The three Apollo   8 astronauts— Frank Borman , James Lovell , and William Anders —were

12138-676: The shoreline with sand. A permanent ground control station for NASA's RQ-4 Global Hawk drone is at Wallops Flight Facility. The WFF Main Base is located on the Eastern Shore of Virginia on the Delmarva Peninsula about 5 miles (8.0 km) west of Chincoteague, Virginia ; about 90 miles (140 km) north of Norfolk, Virginia , and 40 miles (64 km) southeast of Salisbury, Maryland . The WFF consists of three separate parcels of land totaling 6,200 acres (25 km²):

12257-549: The space shuttle be retired. In 2006, the Space Shuttle returned to flight, conducting several mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope , but was retired following the STS-135 resupply mission to the International Space Station in 2011. NASA never gave up on the idea of a space station after Skylab's reentry in 1979. The agency began lobbying politicians to support building a larger space station as soon as

12376-481: The space station spelled an end to the program. In 2003, a second space shuttle was destroyed when the Columbia was destroyed upon reentry during the STS-107 mission, resulting in the loss of the spacecraft and all seven astronauts. This accident marked the beginning of the retiring of the Space Shuttle program, with President George W. Bush directing that upon the completion of the International Space Station,

12495-484: The spacecraft, including the escape and recovery systems and some of the life support systems. Two rhesus monkeys, Sam and Miss Sam, were sent aloft as pioneers for astronauts; both were recovered safely. The first payload launched into orbit from Wallops Island was Explorer IX , atop a Scout rocket , on February 15, 1961. On September 6, 2013, the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer ( LADEE )

12614-521: The subsequent series of aircraft were not built. A small Airborne Real-Time Imaging System (ARTIS) camera, developed by HyperSpectral Sciences, Inc., under NASA's ERAST project, was demonstrated during the summer of 1999 when it took visual and near- infrared photos from Proteus while it was flying high over the Experimental Aircraft Association 's AirVenture 99 Airshow at Oshkosh, Wisconsin . The images were displayed on

12733-579: The use of fuel cells instead of batteries, and conducted the first American spacewalks and rendezvous operations . The Ranger Program was started in the 1950s as a response to Soviet lunar exploration, however most missions ended in failure. The Lunar Orbiter program had greater success, mapping the surface in preparation for Apollo landings and measured Selenography , conducted meteoroid detection, and measured radiation levels. The Surveyor program conducted uncrewed lunar landings and takeoffs, as well as taking surface and regolith observations. Despite

12852-526: The various projects, mission architectures and associated timelines relevant to lunar and Mars exploration and science. Wallops Flight Facility Wallops Flight Facility ( WFF ) ( IATA : WAL , ICAO : KWAL , FAA LID : WAL ) is a rocket launch site on Wallops Island on the Eastern Shore of Virginia , United States , just east of the Delmarva Peninsula and approximately 100 miles (160 km) north-northeast of Norfolk . The facility

12971-579: The world. While Wallops Island is the prime location for range services, major sounding rocket campaigns have been supported at Poker Flat , Alaska ; Andoya , Norway ; and Kwajalein Island, Marshall Islands . The Wallops Mobile Instrumentation is integrated with NASA and Department of Defense networks and can be used to supplement established ranges in support of rocket launches. Since 2001, engineers at NASA Wallops Flight Facility have been developing new range technologies, systems and approaches to improve

13090-461: Was Venus , sharing many similar characteristics to Earth. First visited by American Mariner 2 spacecraft, Venus was observed to be a hot and inhospitable planet. Follow-on missions included the Pioneer Venus project in the 1970s and Magellan , which performed radar mapping of Venus' surface in the 1980s and 1990s. Future missions were flybys of Venus, on their way to other destinations in

13209-489: Was a joint NASA–U.S. Air Force program, with the hypersonic test aircraft becoming the first non-dedicated spacecraft to cross from the atmosphere to outer space. The X-15 also served as a testbed for Apollo program technologies, as well as ramjet and scramjet propulsion. Escalations in the Cold War between the United States and Soviet Union prompted President John F. Kennedy to charge NASA with landing an American on

13328-683: Was able to previously accomplish. NASA launched its first commercial satellites on the STS-5 mission and in 1984, the STS-41-C mission conducted the world's first on-orbit satellite servicing mission when the Challenger captured and repaired the malfunctioning Solar Maximum Mission satellite. It also had the capability to return malfunctioning satellite to Earth, like it did with the Palapa B2 and Westar 6 satellites. Once returned to Earth,

13447-545: Was also a concern with sharing sensitive space technologies with the Europeans, which had the potential to dilute America's technical lead. Ultimately, an international agreement to develop the Space Station Freedom program would be signed with thirteen countries in 1985, including the European Space Agency member states, Canada , and Japan . Despite its status as the first international space program,

13566-430: Was conducted in restricted airspace near Mojave, California , again using the Proteus as a surrogate UAV. Proteus was equipped with a small Amphitech OASys 35 GHz primary radar system to detect potential intruder aircraft on simulated collision courses. The radar data was sent directly to the ground station as well as via an Inmarsat satellite system installed on Proteus. A mix of seven intruder aircraft, ranging from

13685-445: Was launched from Wallops, atop a Minotaur V rocket. This was the first time that an American lunar mission had been launched from anywhere but Florida . Wallops Island is currently experiencing beach erosion of 10 to 22 feet (3 to 7 meters) a year, due in part to the current sea level rise ; some access roads and parking lots have had to be rebuilt several times over the past five years. NASA has responded by continually fortifying

13804-497: Was launched in 1990 on STS-31 from the Discovery and could view galaxies 15 billion light years away. A major defect in the telescope's mirror could have crippled the program, had NASA not used computer enhancement to compensate for the imperfection and launched five Space Shuttle servicing flights to replace the damaged components. The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory was launched from the Atlantis on STS-37 in 1991, discovering

13923-450: Was performed on May 13, and the rocket mockup was dropped three times, on May 24, June 7 and June 14, over Edwards AFB . The mockup was a 23% scale model of a proposed four-person crew capsule (called the CXV) and its AirLaunch LLC -produced QuickReach II booster. These particular flight tests were to demonstrate the concept of t/Space's Trapeze/Lanyard (TLAD) air drop system. Northrop Grumman

14042-535: Was the first orbital mission attempted from the facility since 1985. The company's launch pad at Wallops Island were the first commercially built facilities in the US. 14 scientific experiments, some of which were planned to return from orbit, were destroyed. All debris landed in the Atlantic Ocean. There were no injuries. On October 27, 1998, a Learjet 45 was destroyed at Wallops after a loss of control during

14161-442: Was to be the first of a series of aircraft built by Scaled Technology Works of Montrose, Colorado (a proposed spinoff of Scaled Composites which was later cancelled). The aircraft was intended to carry a 14-foot (4.3 m) antenna, which was flight tested in the autumn of 1999 and the summer of 2000, including the relay of a video conference while the aircraft orbited over Los Angeles . The project failed to move forward, however, and

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