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Introduction

Launch of STS-1, the first space shuttle flight
Launch of STS-1, the first space shuttle flight

Spaceflight (or space flight) is an application of astronautics to fly 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 spaceflight operates either by telerobotic or autonomous control. The more complex human spaceflight has been pursued soon after the first orbital satellites and has reached the Moon and permanent human presence in space around Earth, particularly with the use of space stations. Human spaceflight programs include the Soyuz, Shenzhou, the past Apollo Moon landing and the Space Shuttle programs, with currently the International Space Station as the main destination of human spaceflight missions while China's Tiangong Space Station is under construction. (Full article...)

Selected article

A Dream Chaser vehicle undergoing tow tests at Edwards Air Force Base
The Dream Chaser is an American reusable crewed suborbital and orbital lifting-body spaceplane being developed by Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) Space Systems. The Dream Chaser is designed to carry up to seven people to and from low Earth orbit. The vehicle would launch vertically on an Atlas V rocket and land horizontally autonomously on conventional runways.

While Dream Chaser was not chosen for CCDev, it was chosen for the second round of the Commercial Resupply Services, to begin in 2019. A cargo version is being developed which will have folding wings so it can fit in the Atlas V's 5-meter fairing. It will be capable of carrying a total of 5,500 kg of cargo to the International Space Station, and return up to 1,750 kg of cargo to Earth.

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Selected biography

Glynn Lunney in 1974, as manager of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.
Glynn S. Lunney (November 27, 1936 – March 19, 2021) was an American NASA engineer. An employee of NASA since its foundation in 1958, Lunney was a flight director during the Gemini and Apollo programs, and was on duty during historic events such as the Apollo 11 lunar ascent and the pivotal hours of the Apollo 13 crisis. At the end of the Apollo program, he became manager of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, the first collaboration in spaceflight between the United States and the Soviet Union. Later, he served as manager of the Space Shuttle program before leaving NASA in 1985 and later becoming a Vice President of the United Space Alliance.

Lunney was a key figure in America's manned space program from Project Mercury through the coming of the Space Shuttle. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the National Space Trophy, which he was given by the Rotary Club in 2005. Chris Kraft, NASA's first flight director, described Lunney as "a true hero of the space age", saying that he was "one of the outstanding contributors to the exploration of space of the last four decades".

Selected picture

The landing of the first stage of a Falcon 9 Full Thrust rocket
The landing of the first stage of a Falcon 9 Full Thrust rocket
The first stage of a Falcon 9 Full Thrust rocket lands at Landing Zone 1, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, during Falcon 9 Flight 20 at 01:38 UTC on December 22, 2015 (8:38pm December 21 EST). This was the first successful ground landing of a first stage that was used to launch an orbital payload. The payload it launched, eleven Orbcomm G2 satellites, were successfully placed in orbit, its orbital insertion occurring at the same time as the first stage's landing.

On This Day

19 May

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Did you know...

…that to date, Britain has launched only one satellite, Prospero X-3? It was launched in 1971, using a Black Arrow rocket (pictured).

  • …that the Vostok 4 mission was shortened because cosmonaut Pavel Romanovich Popovich accidentally told flight controllers that he was "observing thunderstorms". This was a coded signal requesting an abort because the cosmonaut was feeling ill, however Popovich was actually trying to inform ground controllers that he could see thunderstorms from space.
  • …that the backup crew of Apollo 11 consisted of Jim Lovell, Bill Anders and Fred Haise, although after Anders announced his intention to retire, Ken Mattingly was also assigned in case the mission was delayed until after Anders had left? The backup crew, with Mattingly replacing Anders, was later assigned to Apollo 13.

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