Portal:Spaceflight

The Spaceflight Portal

Introduction

Spaceflight (or space flight) is an application of astronautics to fly objects, usually spacecraft, into or through outer space, either with or without humans on board. Most spaceflight is uncrewed and conducted mainly with spacecraft such as satellites in orbit around Earth, but also includes space probes for flights beyond Earth orbit. Such spaceflights operate either by telerobotic or autonomous control. The first spaceflights began in the 1950s with the launches of the Soviet Sputnik satellites and American Explorer and Vanguard missions. Human spaceflight programs include the Soyuz, Shenzhou, the past Apollo Moon landing and the Space Shuttle programs. Other current spaceflight are conducted to the International Space Station and to China's Tiangong Space Station. (Full article...)

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The Cygnus spacecraft is an American automated cargo spacecraft developed by Orbital ATK as part of NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) developmental program. It is designed to transport supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) following the retirement of the American Space Shuttle. Since August 2000 ISS resupply missions have been regularly flown by Russian Progress (spacecraft), as well as by the European Automated Transfer Vehicle, and the Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle. With the Cygnus spacecraft and the SpaceX Dragon, NASA seeks to increase its partnerships with domestic commercial aviation and aeronautics industry.

Cygnus is the Latinized Greek word for swan and a northern constellation.

Not including its demonstration flight, Cygnus has been launched five times, with one, Cygnus CRS Orb-3, suffering a launch failure. Although designed to be launched by Orbital ATK's Antares rocket from Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, damage to the launch pad caused by the Orb-3 failure led to two Cygnus missions being moved to Atlas V rockets launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Cygnus was renewed for the second round of the Commercial Resupply Services in 2016.

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Next scheduled launch

For a full schedule of launches and deep-space rendezvous, see 2024 in spaceflight.

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John Watts Young (September 24, 1930 – January 5, 2018) was an American astronaut, naval officer and aviator, test pilot, and aeronautical engineer. He became the ninth person to walk on the Moon as Commander of the Apollo 16 mission in 1972. Young enjoyed the longest career of any astronaut, becoming the first person to fly six space missions over the course of 42 years of active NASA service. He is the only person to have piloted and commanded four different classes of spacecraft: Gemini, the Apollo command and service module, the Apollo Lunar Module, and the Space Shuttle.

Before becoming an astronaut, Young received his Bachelor of Science degree with highest honors in Aeronautical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and joined the U.S. Navy. After serving at sea during the Korean War he became a naval aviator, and graduated from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School (Class 23), setting several world time-to-climb records as a test pilot. Young left the Navy in 1976 with the rank of captain.

In 1965 Young flew on the first crewed Gemini mission, and then commanded the 1966 Gemini 10 mission. In 1969 during Apollo 10, he became the first person to fly solo around the Moon. He then walked on the Moon and drove the Lunar Roving Vehicle on the Moon's surface during Apollo 16, and is one of only three people to have flown to the Moon twice.

Young also commanded two flights of Space Shuttle Columbia: STS-1 in 1981, the Space Shuttle program's first launch, and STS-9 in 1983. Young served as Chief of the Astronaut Office from 1974 to 1987, and retired from NASA in 2004.

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Credit: NASA - image source

The first Hermes A-1 test rocket, fired at White Sands Proving Ground on May 1, 1950. Built by General Electric based on the Wasserfall surface-to-air missile, the Hermes A-1 was capable of reaching an altitude of 150 km.

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On This Day

11 November

1962 - An Atlas-Agena launches the FTV-2405 satellite.
1963 - A Molniya fails to launch the Kosmos 21 spacecraft.
1966 - An Atlas-Agena launches a Gemini-Agena Target Vehicle.
1966 - A Titan II launches Gemini 12, the last manned Gemini mission.
1970 - A Voskhod launches the Kosmos 377 satellite.
1976 - A Soyuz-U launches the Kosmos 866 satellite.
1982 - A Kosmos-3M launches the Kosmos 1420 satellite.
1982 - Space Shuttle Columbia launches on the first operational Space Shuttle mission, STS-5, to deploy the Anik C3 satellite.
1983 - A Kosmos-3M launches the Kosmos 1508 satellite.
1987 - A Soyuz-U launches the Kosmos 1895 satellite.
1988 - A Soyuz-U fails to launch an unknown satellite.
1994 - A Soyuz-U launches the Progress M-25 spacecraft to resupply Mir.
2007 - A Delta IVH launches the DSP-23 satellite.
2007 - A Long March 4C launches the Yaogan 3 satellite.
2013 - A Proton-M launches a Globus-1M military communication satellite.

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Did you know...

... that Iran's first three-stage satellite carrier, Qaem 100, successfully passed its suborbital test?
... that astrophysicist Suzanna Randall continued her research at the European Southern Observatory while training for the spaceflight programme Die Astronautin?
Angara

…that the South Korean launch system Naro-1, which made its first flight on 25 August 2009, is based on the Russian Angara (pictured)?

…that when investigating the Challenger accident, Richard Feynman threatened to remove his name from the report unless it included his personal observations on the reliability of the shuttle?
…the record for the longest crewed spaceflight stands at 437.7 days, which was set by Valeriy Polyakov aboard Mir?

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