115-501: (Redirected from Solar Probe ) Solar probe can refer to: the NASA Solar Probe mission (now named " Parker Solar Probe ") List of Solar System probes , which includes many solar probes Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Solar probe . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change
230-596: A U.S. Army proposal to place a scientific satellite into orbit during the International Geophysical Year (1957–58). However, that proposal was rejected in favor of the U.S. Navy's Project Vanguard . The Explorer program was later reestablished to catch up with the Soviet Union after the launch of Sputnik 1 in October 1957. Explorer 1 was launched January 31, 1958; at this time the project still belonged to
345-607: 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
460-453: A failed mid-course correction, and Surveyor 4 was lost for contact 2.5 minutes before its scheduled touch-down. All seven spacecraft are still on the Moon; none of the missions included returning them to Earth. Some parts of Surveyor 3 were returned to Earth by the crew of Apollo 12 , which landed near it in 1969. Helios I and Helios II, also known as Helios-A and Helios-B, were a pair of space probes launched into heliocentric orbit for
575-629: 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
690-601: A number of firsts, including the first planetary flyby , the first pictures from another planet, the first planetary orbiter , and the first interplanetary gravity assist maneuver, which spent more than 13 years in orbit around Saturn . All Mariner spacecraft were based on a hexagonal or octagonal "bus", which housed all of the electronics, and to which all components were attached, such as antennae, cameras, propulsion, and power sources. All probes except Mariner 1 , Mariner 2 and Mariner 5 had TV cameras. The first five Mariners were launched on Atlas-Agena rockets , while
805-570: 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
920-628: 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
1035-493: A revolution in scientific ideas about water on Mars . The primary objectives of the Viking orbiters were to transport the landers to Mars, perform reconnaissance to locate and certify landing sites, act as communications relays for the landers, and to perform their own scientific investigations. The orbiter, based on the earlier Mariner 9 spacecraft, was an octagon approximately 2.5 m (8.2 ft) across. The total launch mass
1150-482: A science instrument or hardware components of a science instrument or to re-purpose an existing NASA spacecraft. Missions funded by NASA through this program include Mars Pathfinder , Kepler , Stardust , Genesis and Deep Impact . The Mars Pathfinder (MESUR Pathfinder ) was launched on December 4, 1996, just a month after the Mars Global Surveyor was launched. On board the lander , later renamed
1265-622: A scientist called the Principal investigator (PI). Proposing teams may include people from industry, small businesses, government laboratories, and universities. Proposals are selected through a competitive peer review process. The Discovery missions are adding significantly to the body of knowledge about the Solar System. NASA also accepts proposals for competitively selected Discovery Program Missions of Opportunity. This provides opportunities to participate in non-NASA missions by providing funding for
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#17328553534661380-480: A series of Explorer spacecraft carrying a wide variety of scientific investigations. The Pioneer program was a series of NASA uncrewed space missions designed for planetary exploration. There were a number of missions in the program, most notably Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 , which explored the outer planets and left the Solar System . Both carry a golden plaque , depicting a man and a woman and information about
1495-532: 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
1610-677: A temperature of 2 kelvins (about −271 °C) by evaporation . The supply of liquid helium was depleted on November 21, 1983, preventing further observations. The spacecraft continues to orbit close to the Earth. The telescope was a joint project of the United States (NASA), the Netherlands ( NIVR ), and the United Kingdom ( SERC ). Over 250,000 infrared sources were observed at 12, 25, 60, and 100 micrometer wavelengths. The Magellan spacecraft
1725-561: Is a space telescope that was carried into orbit by a Space Shuttle in April 1990. It is named after American astronomer Edwin Hubble . Although not the first space telescope, Hubble is one of the largest and most versatile, and is well known as both a vital research tool and a public relations boon for astronomy . The HST is a collaboration between NASA and the European Space Agency , and
1840-551: 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 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 ,
1955-610: Is one of NASA's Great Observatories , along with the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory , the Chandra X-ray Observatory , and the Spitzer Space Telescope . The HST's success has paved the way for greater collaboration between the agencies. The HST was created with a budget of $ 2 billion and has continued operation since 1990, delighting both scientists and the public. Some of its images, such as
2070-583: 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
2185-610: The Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Besides being the first U.S. satellite, it is known for discovering the Van Allen radiation belt . The Explorer program was later transferred to NASA, which continued to use the name for an ongoing series of relatively small space missions, typically an artificial satellite with a science focus. Over the years, NASA has launched
2300-593: 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
2415-762: 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
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#17328553534662530-658: 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
2645-471: The Delta rocket carrying Echo 1 on May 13, 1960, Echo 1A was put successfully into orbit by another Thor-Delta, and the first microwave transmission was received on August 12, 1960. Echo 2 was a 41.1-meter (135 ft) diameter metalized PET film balloon, which was the last balloon satellite launched by Project Echo. It used an improved inflation system to improve the balloon's smoothness and sphericity . It
2760-606: 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 the Big Bang , through the James Webb Space Telescope ,
2875-753: 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
2990-621: 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
3105-550: The Hubble Deep Field , have become famous. Ulysses is a decommissioned robotic space probe that was designed to study the Sun as a joint venture of NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA). Ulysses was launched on October 6, 1990, aboard Discovery (mission STS-41 ). The spacecraft's mission was to study the Sun at all latitudes. This required a major orbital plane shift, which
3220-742: 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
3335-634: 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
3450-543: 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
3565-568: 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
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3680-616: 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
3795-471: 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
3910-609: 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,
4025-522: The Sun at a speed of about 10.6 mi/s (17.1 km/s), which corresponds to a greater specific orbital energy than any other probe. The first of NASA 's three High Energy Astronomy Observatories, HEAO 1, launched August 12, 1977, aboard an Atlas rocket with a Centaur upper stage, operated until January 9, 1979. During that time, it scanned the X-ray sky almost three times over 0.2 keV – 10 MeV, provided nearly constant monitoring of X-ray sources near
4140-602: 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
4255-474: The asteroid 5535 Annefrank and collect samples from the coma of comet Wild 2 . The primary mission was completed January 15, 2006, when the sample return capsule returned to Earth. Stardust intercepted comet Tempel 1 on February 15, 2011, a small Solar System body previously visited by Deep Impact on July 4, 2005. Stardust was decommissioned on March 25, 2011. It is the first sample return mission to collect cosmic dust . The Genesis spacecraft
4370-405: 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
4485-486: The ozone layer . Planned for a three-year mission, it proved much more durable, allowing extended observation from its instrument suite. It was launched aboard Space Shuttle Discovery and deployed into space from the payload bay with its robotic arm, under guidance from the crew. The satellite underwent atmospheric re-entry at about 04:00 24 September 2011 UTC . At about 6 tonnes, it was the heaviest NASA satellite to undergo uncontrolled atmospheric entry since Skylab in
4600-468: 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
4715-690: 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 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
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4830-600: 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
4945-611: 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
5060-496: 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
5175-410: 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
5290-660: 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
5405-459: The Carl Sagan Memorial Station, was a small rover called Sojourner that executed many experiments on the Martian surface. It was the second project from NASA's Discovery Program . The mission was directed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology , responsible for NASA's Mars Exploration Program . Stardust was a 300-kilogram robotic space probe launched by NASA on February 7, 1999, to study
5520-426: 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
5635-439: 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
5750-446: The Lunar Orbiter missions, the first pictures of Earth as a whole were taken, beginning with Earth-rise over the lunar surface by Lunar Orbiter 1 in August 1966. The first full picture of the whole Earth was taken by Lunar Orbiter 5 on August 8, 1967. A second photo of the whole Earth was taken by Lunar Orbiter 5 on November 10, 1967. The Surveyor Program was a NASA program that, from 1966 through 1968, sent seven robotic spacecraft to
5865-448: 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
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#17328553534665980-402: 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
6095-404: 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
6210-427: 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
6325-409: 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
6440-507: 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
6555-422: 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
6670-404: 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
6785-418: 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
6900-443: 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,
7015-478: 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
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#17328553534667130-444: 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
7245-483: 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
7360-507: 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
7475-399: 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
7590-409: 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
7705-409: The early 1980s, but they continued to send data up to 1985. The probes are no longer functional but still remain in their elliptical orbit around the Sun. The Viking program consisted of a pair of American space probes sent to Mars— Viking 1 and Viking 2 . Each vehicle was composed of two main parts, an orbiter designed to photograph the surface of Mars from orbit , and a lander designed to study
7820-429: The ecliptic poles, as well as more detailed studies of a number of objects through pointed observations. HEAO included four large X-ray and gamma-ray astronomy instruments, known as A1, A2, A3, and A4, respectively (before launch, HEAO 1 was known as HEAO A). The orbital inclination was about 22.7 degrees. HEAO 1 re-entered the Earth's atmosphere on March 15, 1979. The Solar Maximum Mission satellite (or SolarMax)
7935-535: The engineering experience and scientific value of the mission and to assure at least one successful flight. Total research, development, launch, and support costs for the Ranger series of spacecraft (Rangers 1 through 9) was approximately $ 170 million. Telstar was not a NASA program but rather a commercial communication satellite project. NASA's contributions to it were limited to launch services, as well as tracking and telemetry duties. The first two Telstar satellites were experimental and nearly identical. Telstar 1
8050-480: The entire sky at infrared wavelengths . It discovered about 350,000 sources, many of which are still awaiting identification. New discoveries included a dust disk around Vega and the first images of the Milky Way Galaxy's core. IRAS's life, like those of most infrared satellites that followed it, was limited by its cooling system. To effectively work in the infrared domain, the telescope must be cooled to cryogenic temperatures. Superfluid helium kept IRAS at
8165-542: The failure of the first five flights. Congress launched an investigation into "problems of management" at NASA Headquarters and JPL. After reorganizing the organization twice, Ranger 7 successfully returned images in July 1964, followed by two more successful missions. Ranger was originally designed, beginning in 1959, in three distinct phases, called "blocks." Each block had different mission objectives and progressively more advanced system design. The JPL mission designers planned multiple launches in each block, to maximize
8280-445: The first (and currently the best) high-resolution mapping of the planet's surface features. Prior Venus missions had created low-resolution radar globes of general, continent-sized formations. Magellan, performed detailed imaging and analysis of craters, hills, ridges, and other geologic formations, to a degree comparable to the visible-light photographic mapping of other planets. Galileo was an uncrewed spacecraft sent by NASA to study
8395-420: 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
8510-510: 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
8625-402: 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
8740-520: The first probe into Jupiter's atmosphere . Galileo's prime mission was a two-year study of the Jovian system. The spacecraft traveled around Jupiter in elongated ellipses , each orbit lasting about two months. The differing distances from Jupiter afforded by these orbits allowed Galileo to sample different parts of the planet's extensive magnetosphere . The orbits were designed for close up flybys of Jupiter's largest moons. Once Galileo ' s prime mission
8855-465: 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,
8970-446: The fuel liquid by conducting short thruster burns, allowing the mission to continue. The cessation of mission operations and deactivation of the spacecraft was determined by the inability to prevent attitude control fuel from freezing. The last day for mission operations on Ulysses was June 30, 2009. The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) was a science satellite used from 1991 to 2005 to study Earth's atmosphere, including
9085-468: The large constellation of orbiting satellites. Bell Telephone Laboratories also developed much of the technology required for satellite communication, including transistors , solar cells , and traveling wave tube amplifiers. AT&T built ground stations to handle Telstar communications. The Mariner program conducted by NASA launched a series of robotic interplanetary probes designed to investigate Mars , Venus and Mercury . The program included
9200-564: The last five used the Atlas-Centaur . The Lunar Orbiter program was a series of five uncrewed lunar orbiter missions launched by the United States , starting in 1966. It was intended to help select landing sites for the Apollo program by mapping the Moon's surface. The program produced the first photographs ever taken from lunar orbit. All five missions were successful, and 99% of the Moon
9315-451: 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
9430-441: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Solar_probe&oldid=877691398 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA / ˈ n æ s ə / )
9545-504: 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
9660-609: 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
9775-576: The origin and the creators of the probes, should any extraterrestrials find them someday. Additionally, the Pioneer mission to Venus consisted of two components, launched separately. Pioneer Venus 1 (Pioneer Venus Orbiter) was launched in May 1978 and remained in orbit until 1992. Pioneer Venus 2 (Pioneer Venus Multiprobe), launched in August 1978, sent four small probes into the Venusian atmosphere. Project Echo
9890-513: The planet Jupiter and its moons . It was launched on October 18, 1989, by the Space Shuttle Atlantis on the STS-34 mission. It arrived at Jupiter on December 7, 1995, via gravitational assist flybys of Venus and Earth. Despite antenna problems, Galileo conducted the first asteroid flyby, discovered the first asteroid moon , was the first spacecraft to orbit Jupiter, and launched
10005-420: The planet from the surface. The orbiters also served as communication relays for the landers once they touched down. Viking 1 was launched on August 20, 1975, and the second craft, Viking 2 , was launched on September 9, 1975, both riding atop Titan III-E rockets with Centaur upper stages. By discovering many geological forms that are typically formed from large amounts of water, the Viking program caused
10120-565: The purpose of studying solar processes. A joint venture of the Federal Republic of Germany ( West Germany ) and NASA, the probes were launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station , Florida, on December 10, 1974, and January 15, 1976, respectively. Helios 2 set a maximum speed record among spacecraft at about 247,000 kilometers per hour (153,000 mph) relative to the Sun (68.6 kilometers per second (42.6 mi/s) or 0.000229 c ). The Helios space probes completed their primary missions by
10235-608: 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
10350-502: 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
10465-576: 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
10580-504: 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
10695-400: The shuttle's payload bay for maintenance and repairs. SMM had been fitted with a shuttle "grapple fixture" so that the shuttle's robot arm could grab it for repair. The Solar Maximum Mission ended on December 2, 1989, when the spacecraft re-entered the atmosphere and burned up. The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) was the first-ever space-based observatory to perform a survey of
10810-534: 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
10925-476: 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,
11040-510: The summer of 1979. NASA's Discovery Program (as compared to New Frontiers or Flagship Programs) is a series of lower-cost, highly focused scientific space missions that are exploring the Solar System. It was founded in 1992 to implement then-NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin 's vision of "faster, better, cheaper" planetary missions. Discovery missions differ from traditional NASA missions where targets and objectives are pre-specified. Instead, these cost-capped missions are proposed and led by
11155-466: The surface of the Moon . Its primary goal was to demonstrate the feasibility of soft landings on the Moon. The program was implemented by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to prepare for the Apollo program . The total cost of the Surveyor program was officially $ 469 million. Five of the Surveyor craft successfully soft-landed on the Moon. Two failed: Surveyor 2 crashed at high velocity after
11270-579: 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
11385-712: The various projects, mission architectures and associated timelines relevant to lunar and Mars exploration and science. Uncrewed NASA missions Since 1958, NASA has overseen more than 1,000 uncrewed missions into Earth orbit or beyond. It has both launched its own missions and provided funding for private-sector missions. A number of NASA missions, including the Explorers Program , Voyager program , and New Frontiers program , are ongoing. The Explorer program has launched more than 90 missions since it began more than five decades ago. It has matured into one of NASA's lower-cost mission programs. The program started as
11500-454: 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
11615-416: Was 2,328 kilograms (5,132 lb), of which 1,445 kilograms (3,186 lb) were propellant and attitude control gas. The Voyager program consists of a pair of uncrewed scientific probes , Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 . They were launched in 1977 to take advantage of a favorable planetary alignment of the late 1970s. Although they were originally designated to study just Jupiter and Saturn , Voyager 2
11730-583: Was a NASA sample return probe which collected a sample of solar wind and returned it to Earth for analysis. It was the first NASA sample return mission to return material since the Apollo Program , and the first to return material from beyond the orbit of the Moon . Genesis was launched on August 8, 2001, and crash-landed in Utah on September 8, 2004, after a design flaw prevented the deployment of its drogue parachute . The crash contaminated and damaged many of
11845-484: 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
11960-431: Was a space probe sent to the planet Venus, the first uncrewed interplanetary spacecraft to be launched by NASA since its successful Pioneer Orbiter , also to Venus, in 1978. It was also the first deep-space probe to be launched on the Space Shuttle. In 1993, it employed aerobraking techniques to lower its orbit. This was the first prolonged use of the technique, which had been tested by Hiten in 1991. Magellan created
12075-493: Was able to continue to Uranus and Neptune. Both missions have gathered large amounts of data about the gas giants of the Solar System , of which little was previously known. Both probes have achieved escape velocity from the Solar System and will never return. Voyager 1 entered interstellar space in 2012. As of January 19, 2019 , Voyager 1 was at a distance of 145.148 AU (13.492 billion miles (21.713 × 10 ^ km)) from Earth, traveling away from
12190-663: 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,
12305-515: Was accomplished by using an encounter with Jupiter. The need for a Jupiter encounter meant that Ulysses could not be powered by solar cells and was powered by a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) instead. By February 2008, the power output from the RTG , which is generated by heat from radioactive decay, had decreased enough to leave insufficient power to keep the spacecraft's attitude control hydrazine fuel from freezing. Mission scientists kept
12420-531: 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,
12535-513: Was concluded, an extended mission followed starting on December 7, 1997; the spacecraft made a number of close flybys of Jupiter's moons Europa and Io . On September 21, 2003, Galileo ' s mission was terminated by sending the orbiter into Jupiter's atmosphere at a speed of nearly 50 kilometers per second. The spacecraft was low on propellant; another reason for its destruction was to avoid contamination of local moons, such as Europa, with bacteria from Earth. The Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
12650-524: Was designed to investigate solar phenomena, particularly solar flares . It was launched on February 14, 1980. Although not unique in this endeavor, the SMM was notable in that its useful life compared with similar spacecraft was significantly increased by the direct intervention of a human space mission. During STS-41-C in 1984, the Space Shuttle Challenger intercepted the SMM, maneuvering it into
12765-411: Was launched January 25, 1964, on a Thor Agena rocket. The Ranger program was a series of uncrewed space missions by the United States in the 1960s whose objective was to obtain the first close-up images of the surface of the Moon . The Ranger spacecraft were designed to take images of the lunar surface, returning those images until they were destroyed upon impact. A series of mishaps, however, led to
12880-492: 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
12995-458: Was launched on top of a Thor-Delta rocket on July 10, 1962. It successfully relayed through space the first television pictures, telephone calls, and fax images, as well as providing the first live transatlantic television feed. Telstar 2 was launched May 7, 1963. Bell Telephone Laboratories designed and built the Telstar satellites. They were prototypes intended to prove various concepts behind
13110-476: Was mapped from photographs taken with a resolution of 60 meters (200 ft) or better. The first three missions were dedicated to imaging 20 potential human lunar landing sites, selected based on Earth-based observations. These were flown at low inclination orbits. The fourth and fifth missions were devoted to broader scientific objectives and were flown in high-altitude polar orbits. All Lunar Orbiter craft were launched by an Atlas-Agena D launch vehicle. During
13225-451: Was the first passive communications satellite experiment. Each spacecraft was a metalized balloon satellite to be inflated in space and acting as a passive reflector of microwave signals. Communication signals were bounced off of them from one point on Earth to another. NASA's Echo 1 satellite was built by Gilmore Schjeldahl Company in Northfield, Minnesota . Following the failure of
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