Portal:Spaceflight

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The Spaceflight Portal

Main   Topics   Astronaut café edit   Introduction Spaceflight is the movement of spacecraft into and through outer space, primarily using rocket technology for propulsion. Spaceflight is used in space exploration, the endeavour to reach, explore, and exploit the space outside the Earth's atmosphere, and also in commercial activities like space tourism and satellite telecommunications. It is generally based on the use of rockets to transport machines, animals, and humans to, and subsequently through, space. Additional non-commercial uses of spaceflight include space observatories, reconnaissance satellites and other earth observation satellites. Objects launched into space may follow a sub-orbital trajectory and return to Earth immediately, stay in orbit around Earth, travel in the space between the planets, or aim to leave the space dominated by the Sun completely. Read more... About the Spaceflight Portal... Show new selections edit   Selected picture Credit: NASA - [1] Space Shuttle Columbia launches on its 23rd mission, STS-78, on June 20, 1996. ...Archive/Nominations Read more... edit   Selected article Lunar orbit rendezvous is a key concept for human landing on the Moon and returning to Earth. In a LOR mission a main spacecraft and a smaller lunar module travel together into lunar orbit. The lunar module then independently descends to the lunar surface. After completion of the mission there, it returns to lunar orbit and conducts a rendezvous with the main spacecraft. The main spacecraft then returns to Earth. First mention of LOR dates back to 1916. It was proposed by Yuri Kondratyuk, a self-educated Russian, who calculated that LOR was the most economical way of landing a human on the Moon. LOR was used by the Apollo missions for human spaceflight to the Moon. ...Archive/Nominations Read more... edit   Selected biography Christopher Columbus Kraft, Jr. (born February 28, 1924 in Phoebus, Virginia) is a retired NASA engineer and manager who was instrumental in establishing the agency's Mission Control operation. Following his graduation from Virginia Tech in 1944, Kraft was hired by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the predecessor organization to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). He worked for over a decade in aeronautical research before being asked in 1958 to join the Space Task Group, a small team entrusted with the responsibility of putting America's first man in space. Assigned to the flight operations division, Kraft became NASA's first flight director. He was on duty during such historic missions as America's first human spaceflight, first human orbital flight, and first spacewalk. At the beginning of the Apollo program, Kraft retired as a flight director to concentrate on management and mission planning. In 1972, he became director of the Manned Spacecraft Center (later Johnson Space Center), following in the footsteps of his mentor Robert R. Gilruth. He held the position until his 1982 retirement from NASA. During his retirement, Kraft has consulted for numerous companies including IBM and Rockwell International, and he published an autobiography entitled Flight: My Life in Mission Control. More than any other person, Kraft was responsible for shaping the organization and culture of NASA's Mission Control. As his protégé Glynn Lunney commented, "the Control Center today ... is a reflection of Chris Kraft." When Kraft received the National Space Trophy from the Rotary Club in 1999, the organization described him as "a driving force in the U.S. human space flight program from its beginnings to the Space Shuttle era, a man whose accomplishments have become legendary." ...Archive/Nominations Read more... edit   Spaceflight news Wikinews Space Portal September 10: Out of space in outer space: Special report on NASA's 'space junk' plans August 18: SETI Institute set to re-open August 9: DNA components found in meteorites August 6: Juno spacecraft bound for Jupiter July 22: Space Shuttle Atlantis landing concludes program July 8: End of an era: Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on final mission in program July 8: Cassini spacecraft captures large storm on Saturn July 1: U.S. space agency NASA sues ex-astronaut June 29: Debris narrowly misses International Space Station June 23: Saturn moon Enceladus may have salty ocean June 17: Study says young stars 'shoot water bullets' June 4: Space Shuttle Endeavour enters history books after nineteen years following penultimate landing of program edit   Next scheduled launch The next scheduled launch is of six Globalstar-2 satellites on a Soyuz-2.1a/Fregat, scheduled for 02:27 13 July 2011. For a full launch schedule see 2011 in spaceflight edit   On This Day 24 November 1962 - A Thor-Agena launches a CORONA satellite. 1969 - A Kosmos-2I launches the Kosmos 311 satellite. 1969 - A Kosmos-3M launches the Kosmos 312 satellite. 1970 - A Kosmos-2I launches the Kosmos 380 satellite. 1970 - A Soyuz-L launches the Kosmos 379 spacecraft. 1971 - A Molniya-M launches a Molniya-2 satellite. 1977 - A Kosmos-3M launches the Kosmos 963 satellite. 1982 - A Kosmos-3M fails to launch an unknown satellite. 1983 - A Tsyklon-3 launches the Kosmos 1510 satellite. 1986 - A Kosmos-3M launches the Kosmos 1802 satellite. 1988 - A Soyuz-U launches the Kosmos 1981 satellite. 1989 - A Tsyklon-2 launches the Kosmos 2051 satellite. 1991 - Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on mission STS-44 to deploy a DSP satellite. 1992 - A Tsyklon-3 launches the Kosmos 2221 satellite. 1994 - A Zenit-2 launches the Kosmos 2297 satellite. 2002 - Space Shuttle Endeavour launches on ISS assembly mission STS-113. 2003 - A Proton-K launches the Yamal-200 satellite. 2009 - A Proton-M/Briz-M launches the Eutelsat W7 satellite. View: Today | November | All edit   Did you know... …that the Vehicle Assembly Building is so large that rain clouds are reported to form inside it on humid days? ...that STS-80, a mission flown by the Space Shuttle Columbia, lasted 17 days, 15 hours, 53 minutes and 18 seconds, making it the longest Shuttle mission to date? …that astronauts can't burp in space? A burp would need gravity to separate the liquid from the gas in their stomach. edit   Key topics Astrodynamics • Human spaceflight • ISS • Orbit • Outer space • Robotic spacecraft • Rocket • Satellite • Space exploration • Spaceflight • Timeline of spaceflight edit   Related portals Astronomy ESA Jupiter Mars Moon Science Solar System Space Star Technology Uranus X-ray astronomy edit   Related WikiProjects WikiProject Astronomy WikiProject Aviation WikiProject Military history WikiProject Rocketry WikiProject Solar System WikiProject Spaceflight edit   Associated Wikimedia Spaceflight on Wikibooks  Spaceflight on Wikimedia Commons Spaceflight on Wikinews  Spaceflight on Wikiquote  Spaceflight on Wikisource  Spaceflight on Wikiversity  Spaceflight on Wiktionary  Manuals and books Images and media News Quotations Texts Learning resources Definitions What are portals? · List of portals · Featured portals