40°57′29″N 100°17′28″E / 40.95806°N 100.29111°E / 40.95806; 100.29111
75-595: A spaceport or cosmodrome is a site for launching or receiving spacecraft , by analogy to a seaport for ships or an airport for aircraft. The word spaceport , and even more so cosmodrome , has traditionally been used for sites capable of launching spacecraft into orbit around Earth or on interplanetary trajectories. However, rocket launch sites for purely sub-orbital flights are sometimes called spaceports, as in recent years new and proposed sites for suborbital human flights have been frequently referred to or named "spaceports". Space stations and proposed future bases on
150-694: A sub-orbital spaceflight , a space vehicle enters space and then returns to the surface without having gained sufficient energy or velocity to make a full Earth orbit . For orbital spaceflights , spacecraft enter closed orbits around the Earth or around other celestial bodies . Spacecraft used for human spaceflight carry people on board as crew or passengers from start or on orbit ( space stations ) only, whereas those used for robotic space missions operate either autonomously or telerobotically . Robotic spacecraft used to support scientific research are space probes . Robotic spacecraft that remain in orbit around
225-599: A 15.2 metres (50 ft) CanadaArm1 , an upgraded version of which is used on the International Space Station . The heat shield (or Thermal Protection System ) of the orbiter, used to protect it from extreme levels of heat during atmospheric reentry and the cold of space, was made up of different materials depending on weight and how much heating a particular area on the shuttle would receive during reentry, which ranged from over 2,900 °F (1,600 °C) to under 700 °F (370 °C). The orbiter
300-563: A blunt shape, do not usually contain much more fuel than needed, and they do not possess wings unlike spaceplanes . They are the simplest form of recoverable spacecraft, and so the most commonly used. The first such capsule was the Vostok capsule built by the Soviet Union, that carried the first person in space, Yuri Gagarin . Other examples include the Soyuz and Orion capsules, built by
375-493: A driving factor in spaceport placement because most of the delta-v for a launch is spent on achieving the required horizontal orbital speed . The small gain from a few kilometers of extra altitude does not usually off-set the logistical costs of ground transport in mountainous terrain. Many spaceports have been placed at existing military installations, such as intercontinental ballistic missile ranges, which are not always physically ideal sites for launch. A rocket launch site
450-705: A horizontal runway. All the flights were sub-orbital . Spaceports have been proposed for locations on the Moon , Mars , orbiting the Earth, at Sun-Earth and Earth-Moon Lagrange points , and at other locations in the Solar System . Human-tended outposts on the Moon or Mars, for example, will be spaceports by definition. The 2012 Space Studies Program of the International Space University studied
525-554: A liftoff thrust of 2,800,000 pounds-force (12 MN), which soon increased to 3,300,000 pounds-force (15 MN) per booster, and were fueled by a combination of PBAN and APCP , the Space Shuttle Orbiter , with 3 RS-25 engines that used a liquid oxygen / liquid hydrogen propellant combination, and the bright orange throwaway Space Shuttle external tank from which the RS-25 engines sourced their fuel. The orbiter
600-511: A planetary body are artificial satellites . To date, only a handful of interstellar probes , such as Pioneer 10 and 11 , Voyager 1 and 2 , and New Horizons , are on trajectories that leave the Solar System . Orbital spacecraft may be recoverable or not. Most are not. Recoverable spacecraft may be subdivided by a method of reentry to Earth into non-winged space capsules and winged spaceplanes . Recoverable spacecraft may be reusable (can be launched again or several times, like
675-417: A rendezvous with Intelsat-901 on 25 February 2020. It will remain with the satellite until 2025 before the satellite is moved to a final graveyard orbit and the vehicle does a rendezvous with another satellite. The other one launched on an Ariane 5 rocket on 15 August 2020. A spacecraft astrionics system comprises different subsystems, depending on the mission profile. Spacecraft subsystems are mounted in
750-678: A spacecraft of their own, the CST-100 , commonly referred to as Starliner , but a crewed flight is yet to occur. China developed, but did not fly Shuguang , and is currently using Shenzhou (its first crewed mission was in 2003). Except for the Space Shuttle and the Buran spaceplane of the Soviet Union, the latter of which only ever had one uncrewed test flight, all of the recoverable crewed orbital spacecraft were space capsules . The International Space Station , crewed since November 2000,
825-659: Is a Chinese space vehicle launch facility ( spaceport ) located between the Ejin , Alxa , Inner Mongolia and Hangtian Town, Jinta County , Jiuquan , Gansu Province . It is part of the Dongfeng Aerospace City (Base 10). Because 95% of JSLC located in Jinta County, Jiuquan, the launch center is named after Jiuquan. The launch center straddles both sides of the Ruo Shui river. It was founded in 1958,
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#1732791795106900-652: Is a joint venture between Russia, the United States, Canada and several other countries. Uncrewed spacecraft are spacecraft without people on board. Uncrewed spacecraft may have varying levels of autonomy from human input; they may be remote controlled , remote guided or even autonomous , meaning they have a pre-programmed list of operations, which they will execute unless otherwise instructed. Many space missions are more suited to telerobotic rather than crewed operation, due to lower cost and lower risk factors. In addition, some planetary destinations such as Venus or
975-531: Is a table of spaceports with a documented achieved launch to orbit. The table is sorted according to the time of the first launch that achieved satellite orbit insertion. The first column gives the geographical location. Operations from a different country are indicated in the fourth column. A launch is counted as one also in cases where the payload consists of multiple satellites. 4 Qaem 100 The following table shows spaceports with documented achieved launches of humans to at least 100 km altitude, starting from
1050-432: Is a vehicle that is designed to fly and operate in outer space . Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications , Earth observation , meteorology , navigation , space colonization , planetary exploration , and transportation of humans and cargo . All spacecraft except single-stage-to-orbit vehicles cannot get into space on their own, and require a launch vehicle (carrier rocket). On
1125-443: Is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a transponder ; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Earth . Communications satellites are used for television , telephone , radio , internet , and military applications. Many communications satellites are in geostationary orbit 22,300 miles (35,900 km) above
1200-565: Is built as far as possible away from major population centers in order to mitigate risk to bystanders should a rocket experience a catastrophic failure. In many cases a launch site is built close to major bodies of water to ensure that no components are shed over populated areas. Typically a spaceport site is large enough that, should a vehicle explode, it will not endanger human lives or adjacent launch pads. Planned sites of spaceports for sub-orbital tourist spaceflight often make use of existing ground infrastructure, including runways. The nature of
1275-545: Is spaceport by spaceport according to the time of the first human launch. † Three of the Soyuz missions were uncrewed and are not counted ( Soyuz 2 , Soyuz 20 , Soyuz 34 ). ‡ STS-51-L ( Challenger ) failed to reach orbit and is not counted. STS-107 ( Columbia ) reached orbit and is therefore included in the count (disaster struck on re-entry). Crewed Missions failed to reach Kármán line: Soyuz T-10a (1983) STS-51-L (1986) Soyuz MS-10 (2018) The following
1350-526: Is the height required by the international organization Fédération Aéronautique Internationale to count as a spaceflight. This altitude is called the Kármán line . In particular, in the 1940s there were several test launches of the V-2 rocket , some of which reached altitudes well over 100 km. As of 2016, only three nations have flown crewed spacecraft: USSR/Russia, USA, and China. The first crewed spacecraft
1425-557: Is the major European spaceport, with satellite launches that benefit from the location 5 degrees north of the equator. In October 2003 the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center achieved the first Chinese human spaceflight. Breaking with tradition, in June 2004 on a runway at Mojave Air and Space Port , California, a human was for the first time launched to space in a privately funded, suborbital spaceflight, that
1500-626: Is to be replaced by expendable rockets such as the Space Launch System and ULA 's Vulcan rocket, as well as the commercial launch vehicles. Scaled Composites ' SpaceShipOne was a reusable suborbital spaceplane that carried pilots Mike Melvill and Brian Binnie on consecutive flights in 2004 to win the Ansari X Prize . The Spaceship Company built a successor SpaceShipTwo . A fleet of SpaceShipTwos operated by Virgin Galactic
1575-876: Is usually used to launch vehicles into lower and medium orbits with large orbital inclination angles, as well as testing medium to long-range missiles . Its facilities are state of the art and provide support to every phase of a satellite launch campaign. The site includes the Technical Center, the Launch Complex, the Launch Control Center, the Mission Command and Control Center and various other logistical support systems. The center covers 2800 km and may have housing for as many as 20,000 people. The facilities and launch support equipment were likely modelled on Soviet counterparts and
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#17327917951061650-549: The Deep Space Network . A space telescope or space observatory is a telescope in outer space used to observe astronomical objects. Space telescopes avoid the filtering and distortion of electromagnetic radiation which they observe, and avoid light pollution which ground-based observatories encounter. They are divided into two types: satellites which map the entire sky ( astronomical survey ), and satellites which focus on selected astronomical objects or parts of
1725-403: The Earth's rotational speed (465 m/s at the equator). Such launches also provide a desirable orientation for arriving at a geostationary orbit . For polar orbits and Molniya orbits this does not apply. In principle, advantages of high altitude launch are reduced vertical distance to travel and a thinner atmosphere for the rocket to penetrate. However, altitude of the launch site is not
1800-409: The International Space Station and Tiangong space station. Some spacecrafts can operate as both a crewed and uncrewed spacecraft. For example, the Buran spaceplane could operate autonomously but also had manual controls, though it never flew with crew onboard. Other dual crewed/uncrewed spacecrafts include: SpaceX Dragon 2 , Dream Chaser , and Tianzhou . A communications satellite
1875-440: The International Space Station : Russian Progress , American SpaceX Dragon 2 and Cygnus . Chinese Tianzhou is used to supply Tiangong space station . Space probes are robotic spacecraft that are sent to explore deep space, or astronomical bodies other than Earth. They are distinguished from landers by the fact that they work in open space, not on planetary surfaces or in planetary atmospheres. Being robotic eliminates
1950-513: The Shenzhou program including crewed flights to the Tiangong space station , have launched from Jiuquan. In August 2016, China launched the first quantum communication satellite, the " Quantum Experiments at Space Scale ", from the center. In August 2018, Chinese private rocket manufacturing startups i-Space and OneSpace launched sub-orbital rockets from the center. On July 25, 2019,
2025-768: The Soviet Union likely provided technical support to Jiuquan. Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center was expanded during the Third Front campaign to develop basic industry and national defense industry in China's rugged interior to prepare for potential invasion by the Soviet Union or the United States. The launch center has been the focus of many of China's ventures into space, including their first satellite Dong Fang Hong I in 1970, and their first crewed space mission Shenzhou 5 on 15 October 2003. As of 2021, all Chinese crewed space flights, meaning all flights in
2100-850: The SpaceX Dragon and the Space Shuttle orbiters ) or expendable (like the Soyuz ). In recent years, more space agencies are tending towards reusable spacecraft. Humanity has achieved space flight, but only a few nations have the technology for orbital launches : Russia ( Roscosmos ), the United States ( NASA ), the member states of the European Space Agency , Japan ( JAXA ), China ( CNSA ), India ( ISRO ), Taiwan ( TSA ), Israel ( ISA ), Iran ( ISA ), and North Korea ( NADA ). In addition, several private companies have developed or are developing
2175-888: The Voskhod , Soyuz , flown uncrewed as Zond/L1 , L3 , TKS , and the Salyut and Mir crewed space stations . Other American crewed spacecraft include the Gemini spacecraft , the Apollo spacecraft including the Apollo Lunar Module , the Skylab space station, the Space Shuttle with undetached European Spacelab and private US Spacehab space stations-modules, and the SpaceX Crew Dragon configuration of their Dragon 2 . US company Boeing also developed and flown
2250-667: The dissolution of the USSR , prevented any further flights of Buran. The Space Shuttle was subsequently modified to allow for autonomous re-entry in case of necessity. Per the Vision for Space Exploration , the Space Shuttle was retired in 2011 mainly due to its old age and high cost of program reaching over a billion dollars per flight. The Shuttle's human transport role is to be replaced by SpaceX 's SpaceX Dragon 2 and Boeing 's CST-100 Starliner . Dragon 2's first crewed flight occurred on May 30, 2020. The Shuttle's heavy cargo transport role
2325-528: The equator , so that the satellite appears stationary at the same point in the sky; therefore the satellite dish antennas of ground stations can be aimed permanently at that spot and do not have to move to track the satellite. Others form satellite constellations in low Earth orbit , where antennas on the ground have to follow the position of the satellites and switch between satellites frequently. The high frequency radio waves used for telecommunications links travel by line of sight and so are obstructed by
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2400-700: The satellite bus and may include attitude determination and control (variously called ADAC, ADC, or ACS), guidance, navigation and control (GNC or GN&C), communications (comms), command and data handling (CDH or C&DH), power (EPS), thermal control (TCS), propulsion, and structures. Attached to the bus are typically payloads . Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center Download coordinates as: Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center ( JSLC ; Chinese : 酒泉卫星发射中心 ; pinyin : Jiǔquán Wèixīng Fāshè Zhōngxīn also known as Shuangchengzi Missile Test Center; Launch Complex B2; formally Northwest Comprehensive Missile Testing Facility ( 西北综合导弹试验基地 ); Base 20; 63600 Unit)
2475-862: The American Orbiting Astronomical Observatory , OAO-2 launched in 1968, and the Soviet Orion 1 ultraviolet telescope aboard space station Salyut 1 in 1971. Space telescopes avoid the filtering and distortion ( scintillation ) of electromagnetic radiation which they observe, and avoid light pollution which ground-based observatories encounter. The best-known examples are Hubble Space Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope . Cargo spacecraft are designed to carry cargo , possibly to support space stations ' operation by transporting food, propellant and other supplies. Automated cargo spacecraft have been used since 1978 and have serviced Salyut 6 , Salyut 7 , Mir ,
2550-474: The CEO of SpaceX, estimated in a tweet that 8 launches would be needed to completely refuel a Starship in low Earth orbit , extrapolating this from Starship's payload to orbit and how much fuel a fully fueled Starship contains. To land on bodies without an atmosphere, such as the Moon, Starship will fire its engines and thrusters to slow down. The Mission Extension Vehicle is a robotic spacecraft designed to prolong
2625-405: The Moon are sometimes called spaceports, in particular if intended as a base for further journeys. The term rocket launch site is used for any facility from which rockets are launched. It may contain one or more launch pads or suitable sites to mount a transportable launch pad. It is typically surrounded by a large safety area, often called a rocket range or missile range . The range includes
2700-421: The Moon, Mars, and potentially beyond. It is intended to enable long duration interplanetary flights for a crew of up to 100 people. It will also be capable of point-to-point transport on Earth, enabling travel to anywhere in the world in less than an hour. Furthermore, the spacecraft will be used to refuel other Starship vehicles to allow them to reach higher orbits to and other space destinations. Elon Musk ,
2775-500: The Solar System , these are Voyager 1 , Voyager 2 , Pioneer 10 , Pioneer 11 , and New Horizons . The identical Voyager probes , weighing 721.9 kilograms (1,592 lb), were launched in 1977 to take advantage of a rare alignment of Jupiter , Saturn , Uranus and Neptune that would allow a spacecraft to visit all four planets in one mission, and get to each destination faster by using gravity assist . In fact,
2850-517: The Soviet Union and NASA , respectively. Spaceplanes are spacecraft that are built in the shape of, and function as, airplanes . The first example of such was the North American X-15 spaceplane, which conducted two crewed flights which reached an altitude of over 100 kilometres (62 mi) in the 1960s. This first reusable spacecraft was air-launched on a suborbital trajectory on July 19, 1963. The first reusable orbital spaceplane
2925-554: The Sputnik launch was a single event, it marked the start of the Space Age . Apart from its value as a technological first, Sputnik 1 also helped to identify the upper atmospheric layer 's density, by measuring the satellite's orbital changes. It also provided data on radio -signal distribution in the ionosphere . Pressurized nitrogen in the satellite's false body provided the first opportunity for meteoroid detection. Sputnik 1
3000-521: The Sun as of August 2023. NASA provides real time data of their distances and data from the probe’s cosmic ray detectors. Because of the probe’s declining power output and degradation of the RTGs over time, NASA has had to shut down certain instruments to conserve power. The probes may still have some scientific instruments on until the mid-2020s or perhaps the 2030s. After 2036, they will both be out of range of
3075-956: The area over which launched rockets are expected to fly, and within which some components of the rockets may land. Tracking stations are sometimes located in the range to assess the progress of the launches. Major spaceports often include more than one launch complex , which can be rocket launch sites adapted for different types of launch vehicles . (These sites can be well-separated for safety reasons.) For launch vehicles with liquid propellant, suitable storage facilities and, in some cases, production facilities are necessary. On-site processing facilities for solid propellants are also common. A spaceport may also include runways for takeoff and landing of aircraft to support spaceport operations, or to enable support of HTHL or horizontal takeoff and vertical landing (HTVL) winged launch vehicles. The first rockets to reach space were V-2 rockets launched from Peenemünde , Germany in 1944 during World War II . After
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3150-521: The back of a Boeing 747 SCA and gliding to deadstick landings at Edwards AFB, California . The first Space Shuttle to fly into space was Columbia , followed by Challenger , Discovery , Atlantis , and Endeavour . Endeavour was built to replace Challenger when it was lost in January 1986. Columbia broke up during reentry in February 2003. The first autonomous reusable spaceplane
3225-457: The cosmodrome was initially held secret. Guesses to its location were misdirected by a name in common with a mining town 320 km away. The position became known in 1957 outside the Soviet Union only after U-2 planes had identified the site by following railway lines in the Kazakh SSR , although Soviet authorities did not confirm the location for decades. The Baikonur Cosmodrome achieved
3300-462: The curve of the Earth. The purpose of communications satellites is to relay the signal around the curve of the Earth allowing communication between widely separated geographical points. Communications satellites use a wide range of radio and microwave frequencies . To avoid signal interference, international organizations have regulations for which frequency ranges or "bands" certain organizations are allowed to use. This allocation of bands minimizes
3375-480: The different orbiters had differing weights and thus payloads, with Columbia being the heaviest orbiter, Challenger being lighter than Columbia but still heavier than the other three. The orbiter structure was mostly composed of aluminium alloy. The orbiter had seven seats for crew members, though on STS-61-A the launch took place with 8 crew onboard. The orbiters had 4.6 metres (15 ft) wide by 18 metres (59 ft) long payload bays and also were equipped with
3450-675: The early human flights, were carried out at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station . For the Apollo programme, an adjacent spaceport, Kennedy Space Center , was constructed, and achieved the first crewed mission to the lunar surface ( Apollo 11 ) in July 1969. It was the base for all Space Shuttle launches and most of their runway landings. For details on the launch complexes of the two spaceports, see List of Cape Canaveral and Merritt Island launch sites . The Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana,
3525-461: The economic benefit of a network of spaceports throughout the solar system beginning from Earth and expanding outwardly in phases, within its team project Operations And Service Infrastructure for Space (OASIS). Its analysis claimed that the first phase, placing the "Node 1" spaceport with space tug services in low Earth orbit (LEO), would be commercially profitable and reduce transportation costs to geosynchronous orbit by as much as 44% (depending on
3600-401: The first Chinese private orbital launch took place from Jiuquan as I-Space launched their Hyperbola-1 rocket. The launch site comprises two launch complexes, each containing several launch locations. All the launch statistics reported below are up to date as of December 2023. The North Launch Complex consists in two different launch areas, both currently inactive. The South Launch complex
3675-539: The first launch of a human into space ( Yuri Gagarin ) in 1961. The launch complex used, Site 1, has reached a special symbolic significance and is commonly called Gagarin's Start . Baikonur was the primary Soviet cosmodrome, and is still frequently used by Russia under a lease arrangement with Kazakhstan. In response to the early Soviet successes, the United States built up a major spaceport complex at Cape Canaveral in Florida. A large number of uncrewed flights, as well as
3750-438: The first of China's four spaceports. As with most Chinese launch facilities, it is remote and generally closed to foreigners. The Satellite Launch Center is a part of Dongfeng Space City ( 东风航天城 ), also known as Base 10 ( 十号基地 ) or Dongfeng base ( 东风基地 ). The Dongfeng site also includes People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) test flight facilities, a space museum and a so-called martyr's cemetery ( 东风烈士陵园 ). JSLC
3825-410: The general spacecraft categories. This is a list of these spacecraft. Starship is a spacecraft and second stage under development by American aerospace company SpaceX . Stacked atop its booster, Super Heavy , it composes the identically named Starship super heavy-lift space vehicle . The spacecraft is designed to transport both crew and cargo to a variety of destinations, including Earth orbit,
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#17327917951063900-603: The launch vehicle). The second phase would add a Node 2 spaceport on the lunar surface to provide services including lunar ice mining and delivery of rocket propellants back to Node 1. This would enable lunar surface activities and further reduce transportation costs within and out from cislunar space . The third phase would add a Node 3 spaceport on the Martian moon Phobos to enable refueling and resupply prior to Mars surface landings, missions beyond Mars, and return trips to Earth. In addition to propellant mining and refueling,
3975-426: The life on another spacecraft. It works by docking to its target spacecraft, then correcting its orientation or orbit. This also allows it to rescue a satellite which is in the wrong orbit by using its own fuel to move its target to the correct orbit. The project is currently managed by Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems. As of 2023, 2 have been launched. The first launched on a Proton rocket on 9 October 2019, and did
4050-581: The local view from 100 km (62 mi) altitude is also a factor to consider. The space tourism industry (see List of private spaceflight companies ) is being targeted by spaceports in numerous locations worldwide. e.g. Spaceport America , New Mexico. The establishment of spaceports for tourist trips raises legal issues, which are only beginning to be addressed. The following is a table of spaceports and launch complexes for vertical launchers with documented achieved launches of humans to space (more than 100 km (62 mi) altitude). The sorting order
4125-636: The need for expensive, heavy life support systems (the Apollo crewed Moon landings required the use of the Saturn V rocket that cost over a billion dollars per launch, adjusted for inflation) and so allows for lighter, less expensive rockets. Space probes have visited every planet in the Solar System and Pluto , and the Parker Solar Probe has an orbit that, at its closest point, is in the Sun's chromosphere . There are five space probes that are escaping
4200-499: The network of spaceports could provide services such as power storage and distribution, in-space assembly and repair of spacecraft, communications relay, shelter, construction and leasing of infrastructure, maintaining spacecraft positioned for future use, and logistics. Space launch facilities have been colonial developments and have also been impacting its surroundings by destroying or polluting their environment, creating precarious cleanup situations. Spacecraft A spacecraft
4275-471: The risk of signal interference. Cargo or resupply spacecraft are robotic spacecraft that are designed specifically to carry cargo , possibly to support space stations ' operation by transporting food, propellant and other supplies. Automated cargo spacecraft have been used since 1978 and have serviced Salyut 6 , Salyut 7 , Mir , the International Space Station and Tiangong space station. As of 2023, three different cargo spacecraft are used to supply
4350-519: The rocket that launched the probes (the Titan IIIE ) could not even send the probes to the orbit of Saturn , yet Voyager 1 is travelling at roughly 17 km/s (11 mi/s) and Voyager 2 moves at about 15 km/s (9.3 mi/s) kilometres per second as of 2023. In 2012, Voyager 1 exited the heliosphere, followed by Voyager 2 in 2018. Voyager 1 actually launched 16 days after Voyager 2 but it reached Jupiter sooner because Voyager 2
4425-454: The same way as a spaceship, as they coexist with numerous micro-organisms, and these micro-organisms are also hard to contain within a spaceship or spacesuit. Multiple space probes were sent to study Moon, the planets, the Sun, multiple small Solar System bodies (comets and asteroids). Special class of uncrewed spacecraft is space telescopes , a telescope in outer space used to observe astronomical objects. The first operational telescopes were
4500-504: The shuttle was a rather dangerous system, with fragile heat shielding tiles, some being so fragile that one could easily scrape it off by hand, often having been damaged in many flights. After 30 years in service from 1981 to 2011 and 135 flights, the shuttle was retired from service due to the cost of maintaining the shuttles, and the 3 remaining orbiters (the other two were destroyed in accidents) were prepared to be displayed in museums. Some spacecraft do not fit particularly well into any of
4575-583: The sky and beyond. Space telescopes are distinct from Earth imaging satellites , which point toward Earth for satellite imaging , applied for weather analysis , espionage , and other types of information gathering . A lander is a type of spacecraft that makes a soft landing on the surface of an astronomical body other than Earth . Some landers, such as Philae and the Apollo Lunar Module , land entirely by using their fuel supply, however many landers (and landings of spacecraft on Earth ) use aerobraking , especially for more distant destinations. This involves
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#17327917951064650-415: The spacecraft using a fuel burn to change its trajectory so it will pass through a planet (or a moon's) atmosphere. Drag caused by the spacecraft hitting the atmosphere enables it to slow down without using fuel, however this generates very high temperatures and so adds a requirement for a heat shield of some sort. Space capsules are a type of spacecraft that can return from space at least once. They have
4725-587: The technology for orbital launches independently from government agencies. The most prominent examples of such companies are SpaceX and Blue Origin . A German V-2 became the first spacecraft when it reached an altitude of 189 km in June 1944 in Peenemünde , Germany. Sputnik 1 was the first artificial satellite . It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit (LEO) by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957. The launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments; while
4800-420: The vicinity of Jupiter are too hostile for human survival. Outer planets such as Saturn , Uranus , and Neptune are too distant to reach with current crewed spaceflight technology, so telerobotic probes are the only way to explore them. Telerobotics also allows exploration of regions that are vulnerable to contamination by Earth micro-organisms since spacecraft can be sterilized. Humans can not be sterilized in
4875-534: The war, 70 complete V-2 rockets were brought to White Sands for test launches, with 47 of them reaching altitudes between 100 km and 213 km. The world's first spaceport for orbital and human launches, the Baikonur Cosmodrome in southern Kazakhstan , started as a Soviet military rocket range in 1955. It achieved the first orbital flight ( Sputnik 1 ) in October 1957. The exact location of
4950-503: Was Vostok 1 , which carried Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into space in 1961, and completed a full Earth orbit. There were five other crewed missions which used a Vostok spacecraft . The second crewed spacecraft was named Freedom 7 , and it performed a sub-orbital spaceflight in 1961 carrying American astronaut Alan Shepard to an altitude of just over 187 kilometers (116 mi). There were five other crewed missions using Mercury spacecraft . Other Soviet crewed spacecraft include
5025-612: Was a spaceplane that was launched at NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre and landed mainly at the Shuttle Landing Facility , which is part of Kennedy Space Centre. A second launch site, Vandenberg Space Launch Complex 6 in California , was revamped so it could be used to launch the shuttles, but it was never used. The launch system could lift about 29 tonnes (64,000 lb) into an eastward Low Earth Orbit . Each orbiter weighed roughly 78 tonnes (172,000 lb), however
5100-457: Was due to expensive refurbishment costs and the external tank being expended. Once a landing had occurred, the SRBs and many parts of the orbiter had to be disassembled for inspection, which was long and arduous. Furthermore, the RS-25 engines had to be replaced every few flights. Each of the heat shielding tiles had to go in one specific area on the orbiter, increasing complexity more. Adding to this,
5175-426: Was intended to pave the way for future commercial spaceflights. The spacecraft, SpaceShipOne , was launched by a carrier airplane taking off horizontally. At Cape Canaveral, SpaceX in 2015 made the first successful landing and recovery of a first stage used in a vertical satellite launch. Rockets can most easily reach satellite orbits if launched near the equator in an easterly direction, as this maximizes use of
5250-559: Was launched during the International Geophysical Year from Site No.1/5 , at the 5th Tyuratam range, in Kazakh SSR (now at the Baikonur Cosmodrome ). The satellite travelled at 29,000 kilometres per hour (18,000 mph), taking 96.2 minutes to complete an orbit, and emitted radio signals at 20.005 and 40.002 MHz While Sputnik 1 was the first spacecraft to orbit the Earth, other human-made objects had previously reached an altitude of 100 km, which
5325-606: Was manually operated, though an autonomous landing system was added while the shuttle was still on service. It had an in orbit maneouvreing system known as the Orbital Manoeuvring System, which used the hypergolic propellants monomethylhydrazine (MMH) and dinitrogen tetroxide , which was used for orbital insertion, changes to orbits and the deorbit burn. Though the shuttle’s goals were to drastically decrease launch costs, it did not do so, ending up being much more expensive than similar expendable launchers. This
5400-439: Was planned to begin reusable private spaceflight carrying paying passengers in 2014, but was delayed after the crash of VSS Enterprise . The Space Shuttle is a retired reusable Low Earth Orbital launch system. It consisted of two reusable Solid Rocket Boosters that landed by parachute, were recovered at sea, and were the most powerful rocket motors ever made until they were superseded by those of NASA’s SLS rocket, with
5475-403: Was taking a longer route that allowed it to visit Uranus and Neptune, whereas Voyager 1 did not visit Uranus or Neptune, instead choosing to fly past Saturn’s satellite Titan . As of August 2023, Voyager 1 has passed 160 astronomical units , which means it is over 160 times farther from the Sun than Earth is. This makes it the farthest spacecraft from the Sun. Voyager 2 is 134 AU away from
5550-530: Was the Buran -class shuttle , launched by the USSR on November 15, 1988, although it made only one flight and this was uncrewed. This spaceplane was designed for a crew and strongly resembled the U.S. Space Shuttle, although its drop-off boosters used liquid propellants and its main engines were located at the base of what would be the external tank in the American Shuttle. Lack of funding, complicated by
5625-578: Was the Space Shuttle orbiter . The first orbiter to fly in space, the Space Shuttle Columbia , was launched by the USA on the 20th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin 's flight, on April 12, 1981. During the Shuttle era, six orbiters were built, all of which have flown in the atmosphere and five of which have flown in space. Enterprise was used only for approach and landing tests, launching from
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