History of spaceflight
Encyclopedia
Spaceflight
, became a reality in the 20th Century following theoretical and practical breakthroughs by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
and Robert H. Goddard
.
At the beginning of the 20th Century, there was a burst of scientific investigation into interplanetary travel, inspired by fiction by writers such as Jules Verne
(From the Earth to the Moon
) and H.G.Wells (War of the worlds).
The first realistic proposal of spaceflight
goes back to Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
. His most famous work, "" (The Exploration of Cosmic Space by Means of Reaction Devices), was published in 1903, but this theoretical work was not widely influential outside of Russia.
Spaceflight became an engineering possibility with the work of Robert H. Goddard
's publication in 1919 of his paper 'A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes'; where his application of the de Laval nozzle
to liquid fuel rockets gave sufficient power that interplanetary travel became possible. This paper was highly influential on Hermann Oberth
and Wernher Von Braun
, later key players in spaceflight.
In 1929, the Slovene officer Hermann Noordung was the first to imagine a complete space station in his book The Problem of Space Travel.
The first rocket to reach space was a German
V-2 Rocket
, on a test flight in June 1944.
and the United States
during the Cold War
, in a competition dubbed the Space Race.
, its intent to launch an artificial satellite
known as Vanguard
by the spring of 1958. The Soviets reacted on July 31 by announcing they would launch a satellite in the fall of 1957. They succeeded in launching Sputnik 1
on October 4, 1957. After a series of Vanguard failures, the US succeeded in launching its first satellite, Explorer 1 on February 1, 1958. This carried scientific instrumentation and detected the theorized Van Allen radiation belt
.
The US public shock over Sputnik 1 became known as the Sputnik crisis
. On July 29, 1958, the US Congress
passed legislation turning the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
(NACA) into the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) with responsibility for the nation's civilian space programs. In 1959, NASA began Project Mercury
to launch single-man capsules into Earth orbit, and chose a corps of seven astronaut
s introduced as the Mercury Seven
.
who made a single orbit aboard Vostok 1
. On May 5, 1961 the US launched its first Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard
in a capsule he named Freedom 7, but on a suborbital flight.
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The US public was becoming increasingly shocked and alarmed at the widening lead obtained by the USSR, so President
John F. Kennedy
announced on May 25 a plan to land a man on the moon by 1970, launching the three-man Apollo program. In January 1962, NASA announced a two-man spacecraft program named Project Gemini
to support Apollo.
After one more suborbital Mercury flight, the US launched John Glenn
to make three orbits in Friendship 7 on February 20, 1962. The US launched a total of six Project Mercury astronauts by May 16, 1963, logging a cumulative 34 Earth orbits, and 51 hours in space. By June 16 of the same year, the Soviets had also launched a total of six Vostok cosmonauts, two pairs of them flying concurrently, but had demonstrated longer duration flights, accumulating a total of 260 cosmonaut-orbits, and just over 16 cosmonaut-days in space.
in Vostok 6
on June 16, 1963. Though the Soviet government, led by Nikita Khrushchev
, derived propaganda value from an apparent demonstration of women's equality, the exclusively male Soviet air force of the 1950s and 1960s was no more welcoming of women into its pilot fraternity than its American counterpart. Though the chief Soviet spacecraft designer, Sergey Korolyov
, first conceived of the idea to recruit a female cosmonaut corps and launch two women concurrently on Vostok 5/6, his plan was changed to launch a male first in Vostok 5
, followed shortly by Tereshkova. Khrushchev personally spoke to Tereshkova by radio during her flight.
On November 3, 1963, Tereshkova married the bachelor cosmonaut Andrian Nikolayev
, who had previously flown on Vostok 3
. On June 8, 1964, she gave birth to the first child conceived by two space travelers. The Nikolayevs divorced in 1982.
The female cosmonaut corps was dissolved in October 1969, and the idea of female astronauts and cosmonauts on an equal footing with men would not be taken seriously until 1978, when the United States admitted its first female astronaut, Sally Ride
. The Soviets recruited another female cosmonaut corps two years later, and the second female to fly was aviator Svetlana Savitskaya
, aboard Soyuz T-7
on August 18, 1982. Ride first flew aboard Space Shuttle
mission STS-7
on June 18, 1983.
, he was forced to make modifications to squeeze two or three men into the Vostok capsule
, calling the result Voskhod
. Only two of these were launched. Voskhod 1
was the first spacecraft with a crew of three, who could not wear space suit
s because of size and weight constrictions. Alexei Leonov made the first spacewalk when he left the Voskhod 2
on March 8, 1965. He was almost lost in space when he had extreme difficulty fitting his inflated space suit back into the cabin through an airlock
, and a landing error forced him and his crewmate to be lost in dangerous woods for hours before being found by the recovery crew.
The start of manned Gemini missions was delayed a year later than NASA had planned, but ten largely successful missions were launched in 1965 and 1966, allowing the US to overtake the Soviet lead by achieving space rendezvous
(Gemini 6A
) and docking (Gemini 8
) of two vehicles, long duration flights of eight days (Gemini 5
) and fourteen days (Gemini 7
), and demonstrating the use of extra-vehicular activity
to do useful work outside a spacecraft (Gemini 12
).
The USSR made no manned flights during this period, but continued to develop its Soyuz craft and secretly accepted Kennedy's implicit lunar challenge, designing Soyuz variants for lunar orbit and landing. They also attempted to develop the N1, a large, manned moon-capable launch vehicle similar to the US Saturn V
.
As both nations rushed to get their new spacecraft flying with men, the intensity of the competition caught up to them in early 1967, when they suffered their first crew fatalities. On January 27, the entire crew of Apollo 1
, "Gus" Grissom
, Ed White
, and Roger Chaffee, were killed by suffocation in a fire that swept through their cabin during a ground test approximately one month before their planned launch. Then on April 24, the single pilot of Soyuz 1
, Vladimir Komarov, was killed in a crash when his landing parachutes tangled, after a mission cut short by electrical and control system problems. Both accidents were determined to be caused by design defects in the spacecraft, which were corrected before manned flights resumed.
The US succeeded in achieving President Kennedy's goal on July 20, 1969, with the landing of Apollo 11
. Neil Armstrong
and Buzz Aldrin
became the first men to set foot on the Moon. Six such successful landings were achieved through 1972, with one failure on Apollo 13
.
The N1 rocket suffered four catastrophic unmanned launch failures between 1969 and 1972, and the Soviet government officially discontinued its manned lunar program on June 24, 1974 when Valentin Glushko
succeeded Korolyov as General spacecraft Designer.
Both nations went on to fly relatively small, non-permanent manned space laboratories Salyut and Skylab
, using their Soyuz and Apollo craft as shuttles. The US launched only one Skylab, but the USSR launched a total of seven "Salyuts", three of which were secretly Almaz
military manned reconnaissance stations, which carried "defensive" cannons. Manned reconnaissance stations were found to be a bad idea, since unmanned satellites could do the job much more cost-effectively. The United States Air Force
had planned a manned reconnaissance station, the Manned Orbital Laboratory which was cancelled in 1969. The Soviets cancelled Almaz in 1978.
In a season of detente
, the two competitors declared an end to the race and shook hands (literally) on July 17, 1975 with the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project
, where the two craft docked and the crews exchanged visits.
Although its pace slowed, space exploration continued after the end of the Space Race. The United States launched the first reusable spacecraft (Space Shuttle
) on the 20th anniversary of Gagarin's flight, 12 April 1981. On 15 November 1988, the Soviet Union attempted to duplicate this with the Buran
shuttle, its first and only reusable spacecraft. It was never used again after the first flight; instead the Soviet Union continued to develop space stations using the Soyuz craft as the crew shuttle.
Sally Ride
became the first American woman in space in 1983. Eileen Collins
was the first female Shuttle pilot, and with Shuttle mission STS-93
in July 1999 she became the first woman to command a U.S. spacecraft.
The longest single human spaceflight is that of Valeriy Polyakov
, who left earth on January 8, 1994, and didn't return until March 22, 1995 (a total of 437 days 17 hr. 58 min. 16 sec. aboard). Sergei Krikalyov has spent the most time of anyone in space, 803 days, 9 hours, and 39 seconds altogether. The longest period of continuous human presence in space lasted as long as 3,644 days, eight days short of 10 years, spanning the launch of Soyuz TM-8
on September 5, 1989 to the landing of Soyuz TM-29
on August 28, 1999.
. At the same time, the international space race between smaller space powers since the end of the 20th century can be considered the foundation and expansion of markets of commercial rocket launches and space tourism
.
The United States
continued missions to the ISS and other goals with the high-cost shuttle system, which will be retired in 2011. It also continues other space exploration, including major participation with the ISS with its own modules. It also plans a set of unmanned Mars probes, military satellites, and more. The Constellation space program, begun by President George W. Bush
in 2004, aimed to launch a next-generation multifunction Orion
spacecraft by 2018. A subsequent return to the Moon by 2020 was to be followed by manned flights to Mars, but the program was canceled in 2010 in favor of encouraging commercial US manned launch capabilities.
Russia
, the successor to the Soviet Union, has high potential but smaller funding. Its own space programs, some of a military nature, perform several functions. They offer a wide commercial launch service while continuing to support the ISS with a several of their own modules. They also operate manned and cargo spacecraft which will continue after US Shuttle program ends. They are developing a new multi-function PPTS
manned spacecraft for use in 2018 and have plans to perform manned moon missions also. The program aims to put a man on the moon in the 2020s, becoming the second country to do so.
, a Czech
, on a Soviet spacecraft on March 2, 1978. As of 2007, citizens from 33 nations (including space tourists
) have flown in space aboard Soviet, American, Russian, and Chinese spacecraft.
China
, India
, and Japan
are increasingly capable of competing in space research and activity. These nations form the main players in the Asian space race
.
has taken the lead in commercial unmanned launches since the introduction of the Ariane 4
in 1988, but is in competition with NASA, Russia, Sea Launch
(private), China, India and others. The ESA-designed manned shuttle Hermes
and space station Columbus
were under development in the late 1980's in Europe, however these projects were canceled, and Europe did not become the third major "space power".
Europe has launched various satellites, has utilized the manned Spacelab
module aboard US shuttles, and has sent probes to comets and Mars. It also participates in ISS with its own module and the unmanned cargo spacecraft ATV
.
Currently ESA has a program for development of an independent multi-function manned spacecraft CSTS
scheduled for completion in 2018. Further goals include an ambitious plan called the Aurora Programme
which intends to send a human mission to Mars soon after 2030. A set of various landmark missions to reach this goal are currently under consideration. The ESA has a multi-lateral partnership, and plans for spacecraft and further missions with foreign participation and co-funding.
, while possessing less funding than Europe's ESA and the United State's NASA
, has achieved manned space flight, currently operate a commercial unmanned launch service, and owns multiple satellites. There are plans for a Chinese space station and a program to send unmanned probes to Mars
in the near future. China stands poised to become the third space power.
China's first attempt at a manned spacecraft, Shuguang
. was abandoned after years of development. But on October 15, 2003, it became the third nation to achieve human spaceflight when Yang Liwei
launched into space on Shenzhou 5
. This flight demonstrated China's capability to build its own manned spacecraft and launch vehicle.
The aggressiveness of China's progress has raised concerns by other nations. The US Pentagon
released a report in 2006 detailing concerns of China's growing presence in space, including its capability for military action. In 2007 China tested a ballistic missile designed to destroy satellites in orbit, in
violation of an international consensus against military maneuvers in space.
's national space agency, maintains an active space program and leads the group of Asian nations in major achievements and future plans. It operates a small commercial launch service and launched a successful unmanned lunar mission dubbed Chandrayaan-1 in October, 2007. India has plans for a further unmanned mission to the Moon in the near future, as well as a missions to Mars by 2012. The ISRO is currently developing a small shuttle system. With the recent success and a developing missions for manned inter-planet flights by 2025 to 2030, India has positioned itself as a contender for the third space power.
. While not maintaining a commercial launch service, Japan has deployed a module in the ISS and operates an unmanned cargo spacecraft, the H-II Transfer Vehicle
.
JAXA has plans to launch a Mars fly-by probe. Their lunar probe, SELENE
, is touted as the most sophisticated lunar exploration mission in the post-Apollo era.
Although Japan developed the HOPE-X
, Kankoh-maru
, and Fuji
manned capsule spacecraft, none of them have been launched. Japan's current ambition is to deploy a new manned spacecraft by 2025, and to establish a Moon base by 2030.
recently announced plans to begin its manned program in 2021.
Spaceflight
Spaceflight is the act of travelling into or through outer space. Spaceflight can occur with spacecraft which may, or may not, have humans on board. Examples of human spaceflight include the Russian Soyuz program, the U.S. Space shuttle program, as well as the ongoing International Space Station...
, became a reality in the 20th Century following theoretical and practical breakthroughs by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky was an Imperial Russian and Soviet rocket scientist and pioneer of the astronautic theory. Along with his followers the German Hermann Oberth and the American Robert H. Goddard, he is considered to be one of the founding fathers of rocketry and astronautics...
and Robert H. Goddard
Robert H. Goddard
Robert Hutchings Goddard was an American professor, physicist and inventor who is credited with creating and building the world's first liquid-fueled rocket, which he successfully launched on March 16, 1926...
.
Background
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
(From the Earth to the Moon
From the Earth to the Moon
From the Earth to the Moon is a humorous science fantasy novel by Jules Verne and is one of the earliest entries in that genre. It tells the story of the president of a post-American Civil War gun club in Baltimore, his rival, a Philadelphia maker of armor, and a Frenchman, who build an enormous...
) and H.G.Wells (War of the worlds).
The first realistic proposal of spaceflight
Spaceflight
Spaceflight is the act of travelling into or through outer space. Spaceflight can occur with spacecraft which may, or may not, have humans on board. Examples of human spaceflight include the Russian Soyuz program, the U.S. Space shuttle program, as well as the ongoing International Space Station...
goes back to Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky was an Imperial Russian and Soviet rocket scientist and pioneer of the astronautic theory. Along with his followers the German Hermann Oberth and the American Robert H. Goddard, he is considered to be one of the founding fathers of rocketry and astronautics...
. His most famous work, "" (The Exploration of Cosmic Space by Means of Reaction Devices), was published in 1903, but this theoretical work was not widely influential outside of Russia.
Spaceflight became an engineering possibility with the work of Robert H. Goddard
Robert H. Goddard
Robert Hutchings Goddard was an American professor, physicist and inventor who is credited with creating and building the world's first liquid-fueled rocket, which he successfully launched on March 16, 1926...
's publication in 1919 of his paper 'A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes'; where his application of the de Laval nozzle
De Laval nozzle
A de Laval nozzle is a tube that is pinched in the middle, making a carefully balanced, asymmetric hourglass-shape...
to liquid fuel rockets gave sufficient power that interplanetary travel became possible. This paper was highly influential on Hermann Oberth
Hermann Oberth
Hermann Julius Oberth was an Austro-Hungarian-born German physicist and engineer. He is considered one of the founding fathers of rocketry and astronautics.- Early life :...
and Wernher Von Braun
Wernher von Braun
Wernher Magnus Maximilian, Freiherr von Braun was a German rocket scientist, aerospace engineer, space architect, and one of the leading figures in the development of rocket technology in Nazi Germany during World War II and in the United States after that.A former member of the Nazi party,...
, later key players in spaceflight.
In 1929, the Slovene officer Hermann Noordung was the first to imagine a complete space station in his book The Problem of Space Travel.
The first rocket to reach space was a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
V-2 Rocket
V-2 rocket
The V-2 rocket , technical name Aggregat-4 , was a ballistic missile that was developed at the beginning of the Second World War in Germany, specifically targeted at London and later Antwerp. The liquid-propellant rocket was the world's first long-range combat-ballistic missile and first known...
, on a test flight in June 1944.
Space Race
Orbital space flight, both unmanned and manned, was first developed by the Soviet UnionSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
during the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, in a competition dubbed the Space Race.
First unmanned satellite
The race began on July 29, 1957, when the US announced at the convention of the 1957-1958 International Geophysical YearInternational Geophysical Year
The International Geophysical Year was an international scientific project that lasted from July 1, 1957, to December 31, 1958. It marked the end of a long period during the Cold War when scientific interchange between East and West was seriously interrupted...
, its intent to launch an artificial satellite
Satellite
In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
known as Vanguard
Project Vanguard
Project Vanguard was a program managed by the United States Naval Research Laboratory , which intended to launch the first artificial satellite into Earth orbit using a Vanguard rocket as the launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral Missile Annex, Florida....
by the spring of 1958. The Soviets reacted on July 31 by announcing they would launch a satellite in the fall of 1957. They succeeded in launching Sputnik 1
Sputnik 1
Sputnik 1 ) was the first artificial satellite to be put into Earth's orbit. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957. The unanticipated announcement of Sputnik 1s success precipitated the Sputnik crisis in the United States and ignited the Space...
on October 4, 1957. After a series of Vanguard failures, the US succeeded in launching its first satellite, Explorer 1 on February 1, 1958. This carried scientific instrumentation and detected the theorized Van Allen radiation belt
Van Allen radiation belt
The Van Allen radiation belt is a torus of energetic charged particles around Earth, which is held in place by Earth's magnetic field. It is believed that most of the particles that form the belts come from solar wind, and other particles by cosmic rays. It is named after its discoverer, James...
.
The US public shock over Sputnik 1 became known as the Sputnik crisis
Sputnik crisis
The Sputnik crisis is the name for the American reaction to the success of the Sputnik program. It was a key event during the Cold War that began on October 4, 1957 when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial Earth satellite....
. On July 29, 1958, the US Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
passed legislation turning the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics was a U.S. federal agency founded on March 3, 1915 to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. On October 1, 1958 the agency was dissolved, and its assets and personnel transferred to the newly created National Aeronautics and...
(NACA) into the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
(NASA) with responsibility for the nation's civilian space programs. In 1959, NASA began Project Mercury
Project Mercury
In January 1960 NASA awarded Western Electric Company a contract for the Mercury tracking network. The value of the contract was over $33 million. Also in January, McDonnell delivered the first production-type Mercury spacecraft, less than a year after award of the formal contract. On February 12,...
to launch single-man capsules into Earth orbit, and chose a corps of seven astronaut
Astronaut
An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
s introduced as the Mercury Seven
Mercury Seven
Mercury Seven was the group of seven Mercury astronauts selected by NASA on April 9, 1959. They are also referred to as the Original Seven and Astronaut Group 1...
.
First man in space
On April 12, 1961, the USSR announced the successful launch and return of its first cosmonaut (their chosen term for space travelers), Yuri GagarinYuri Gagarin
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. He was the first human to journey into outer space, when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on April 12, 1961....
who made a single orbit aboard Vostok 1
Vostok 1
Vostok 1 was the first spaceflight in the Vostok program and the first human spaceflight in history. The Vostok 3KA spacecraft was launched on April 12, 1961. The flight took Yuri Gagarin, a cosmonaut from the Soviet Union, into space. The flight marked the first time that a human entered outer...
. On May 5, 1961 the US launched its first Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard
Alan Shepard
Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr. was an American naval aviator, test pilot, flag officer, and NASA astronaut who in 1961 became the second person, and the first American, in space. This Mercury flight was designed to enter space, but not to achieve orbit...
in a capsule he named Freedom 7, but on a suborbital flight.
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
announced on May 25 a plan to land a man on the moon by 1970, launching the three-man Apollo program. In January 1962, NASA announced a two-man spacecraft program named Project Gemini
Project Gemini
Project Gemini was the second human spaceflight program of NASA, the civilian space agency of the United States government. Project Gemini was conducted between projects Mercury and Apollo, with ten manned flights occurring in 1965 and 1966....
to support Apollo.
After one more suborbital Mercury flight, the US launched John Glenn
John Glenn
John Herschel Glenn, Jr. is a former United States Marine Corps pilot, astronaut, and United States senator who was the first American to orbit the Earth and the third American in space. Glenn was a Marine Corps fighter pilot before joining NASA's Mercury program as a member of NASA's original...
to make three orbits in Friendship 7 on February 20, 1962. The US launched a total of six Project Mercury astronauts by May 16, 1963, logging a cumulative 34 Earth orbits, and 51 hours in space. By June 16 of the same year, the Soviets had also launched a total of six Vostok cosmonauts, two pairs of them flying concurrently, but had demonstrated longer duration flights, accumulating a total of 260 cosmonaut-orbits, and just over 16 cosmonaut-days in space.
First woman in space
The Soviets launched the first woman in space in the Vostok program, a civilian parachutist named Valentina TereshkovaValentina Tereshkova
Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova is a retired Soviet cosmonaut, and was the first woman in space. She was selected out of more than four hundred applicants, and then out of five finalists, to pilot Vostok 6 on the 16 June, 1963, becoming both the first woman and the first civilian to fly in...
in Vostok 6
Vostok 6
-Backup crew:-Reserve crew:Vostok VI-Mission parameters:*Mass: *Apogee: *Perigee: *Inclination: 64.9°*Period: 87.8 minutes9090...
on June 16, 1963. Though the Soviet government, led by Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
, derived propaganda value from an apparent demonstration of women's equality, the exclusively male Soviet air force of the 1950s and 1960s was no more welcoming of women into its pilot fraternity than its American counterpart. Though the chief Soviet spacecraft designer, Sergey Korolyov
Sergey Korolyov
Sergei Pavlovich Korolev ; died 14 January 1966 in Moscow, Russia) was the lead Soviet rocket engineer and spacecraft designer in the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union during the 1950s and 1960s...
, first conceived of the idea to recruit a female cosmonaut corps and launch two women concurrently on Vostok 5/6, his plan was changed to launch a male first in Vostok 5
Vostok 5
-Backup crew:-Reserve crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass *Apogee: *Perigee: *Inclination: 64.9°*Period: 88.4 minutes...
, followed shortly by Tereshkova. Khrushchev personally spoke to Tereshkova by radio during her flight.
On November 3, 1963, Tereshkova married the bachelor cosmonaut Andrian Nikolayev
Andrian Nikolayev
Andriyan Grigoryevich Nikolayev , was a Soviet cosmonaut. He was an ethnic Chuvash.- History :...
, who had previously flown on Vostok 3
Vostok 3
Vostok 3 was a spaceflight of the Soviet space program intended to determine the ability of the human body to function in conditions of weightlessness and test the endurance of the Vostok 3KA spacecraft over longer flights...
. On June 8, 1964, she gave birth to the first child conceived by two space travelers. The Nikolayevs divorced in 1982.
The female cosmonaut corps was dissolved in October 1969, and the idea of female astronauts and cosmonauts on an equal footing with men would not be taken seriously until 1978, when the United States admitted its first female astronaut, Sally Ride
Sally Ride
Sally Kristen Ride is an American physicist and a former NASA astronaut. Ride joined NASA in 1978, and in 1983 became the first American woman—and then-youngest American, at 32—to enter space...
. The Soviets recruited another female cosmonaut corps two years later, and the second female to fly was aviator Svetlana Savitskaya
Svetlana Savitskaya
Svetlana Yevgenyevna Savitskaya She started training as a cosmonaut in 1980. Upon returning to Earth, Savitskaya was assigned as the commander of an all-female Soyuz crew to Salyut 7 in commemoration of the International Women's Day, a mission that was later canceled.She was twice awarded the Hero...
, aboard Soyuz T-7
Soyuz T-7
-Backup crew:Mission parameters:*Mass: 6,850 kg*Perigee: 289 km*Apogee: 299 km*Inclination: 51.6°*Period: 90.3 minutes...
on August 18, 1982. Ride first flew aboard Space Shuttle
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...
mission STS-7
STS-7
STS-7 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission, during which Space Shuttle Challenger deployed several satellites into orbit. The shuttle launched from Kennedy Space Center on 18 June 1983, and landed at Edwards Air Force Base on 24 June. STS-7 was the seventh shuttle mission, and was Challengers second...
on June 18, 1983.
Competition develops
Khrushchev pressured Korolyov to quickly produce greater space achievements in competition with the announced Gemini and Apollo plans. Rather than allowing him to develop his plans for a crewed Soyuz spacecraftSoyuz spacecraft
Soyuz , Union) is a series of spacecraft initially designed for the Soviet space programme by the Korolyov Design Bureau in the 1960s, and still in service today...
, he was forced to make modifications to squeeze two or three men into the Vostok capsule
Vostok spacecraft
The Vostok was a type of spacecraft built by the Soviet Union. The first human spaceflight in history was accomplished on this spacecraft on April 12, 1961, by Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin....
, calling the result Voskhod
Voskhod spacecraft
The Voskhod was a spacecraft built by the Soviet Union's space program for human spaceflight as part of the Voskhod programme. It was a development of and a follow-on to the Vostok spacecraft...
. Only two of these were launched. Voskhod 1
Voskhod 1
Voskhod 1 was the seventh manned Soviet space flight. It achieved a number of "firsts" in the history of manned spaceflight, being the first space flight to carry more than one crewman into orbit, the first flight without the use of spacesuits, and the first to carry either an engineer or a...
was the first spacecraft with a crew of three, who could not wear space suit
Space suit
A space suit is a garment worn to keep an astronaut alive in the harsh environment of outer space. Space suits are often worn inside spacecraft as a safety precaution in case of loss of cabin pressure, and are necessary for extra-vehicular activity , work done outside spacecraft...
s because of size and weight constrictions. Alexei Leonov made the first spacewalk when he left the Voskhod 2
Voskhod 2
Voskhod 2 was a Soviet manned space mission in March 1965. Vostok-based Voskhod 3KD spacecraft with two crew members on board, Pavel Belyaev and Alexei Leonov, was equipped with an inflatable airlock...
on March 8, 1965. He was almost lost in space when he had extreme difficulty fitting his inflated space suit back into the cabin through an airlock
Airlock
An airlock is a device which permits the passage of people and objects between a pressure vessel and its surroundings while minimizing the change of pressure in the vessel and loss of air from it...
, and a landing error forced him and his crewmate to be lost in dangerous woods for hours before being found by the recovery crew.
The start of manned Gemini missions was delayed a year later than NASA had planned, but ten largely successful missions were launched in 1965 and 1966, allowing the US to overtake the Soviet lead by achieving space rendezvous
Space rendezvous
A space rendezvous is an orbital maneuver during which two spacecraft, one of which is often a space station, arrive at the same orbit and approach to a very close distance . Rendezvous requires a precise match of the orbital velocities of the two spacecraft, allowing them to remain at a constant...
(Gemini 6A
Gemini 6A
-Backup crew:-Mission parameters:* Mass: * Perigee: * Apogee: * Inclination: 28.97°* Period: 88.7 min-Stationkeeping with GT-7:* Start: December 15, 1965 19:33 UTC* End: December 16, 1965 00:52 UTC-Objectives:...
) and docking (Gemini 8
Gemini 8
-Backup crew:-Mission parameters:* Mass: * Perigee: * Apogee: * Inclination: 28.91°* Period: 88.83 min-Objectives:Gemini VIII had two major objectives, of which it achieved one...
) of two vehicles, long duration flights of eight days (Gemini 5
Gemini 5
Gemini 5 was a 1965 manned spaceflight in NASA's Gemini program. It was the third manned Gemini flight, the 11th manned American flight and the 19th spaceflight of all time...
) and fourteen days (Gemini 7
Gemini 7
Gemini 7 was a 1965 manned spaceflight in NASA's Gemini program. It was the 4th manned Gemini flight, the 12th manned American flight and the 20th spaceflight of all time . The crew of Frank F. Borman, II and James A...
), and demonstrating the use of extra-vehicular activity
Extra-vehicular activity
Extra-vehicular activity is work done by an astronaut away from the Earth, and outside of a spacecraft. The term most commonly applies to an EVA made outside a craft orbiting Earth , but also applies to an EVA made on the surface of the Moon...
to do useful work outside a spacecraft (Gemini 12
Gemini 12
-Backup crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass: *Perigee: *Apogee: *Inclination: 28.87°*Period: 88.87 min-Docking:*Docked: November 12, 1966 - 01:06:00 UTC*Undocked: November 13, 1966 - 20:18:00 UTC-Space walk:...
).
The USSR made no manned flights during this period, but continued to develop its Soyuz craft and secretly accepted Kennedy's implicit lunar challenge, designing Soyuz variants for lunar orbit and landing. They also attempted to develop the N1, a large, manned moon-capable launch vehicle similar to the US Saturn V
Saturn V
The Saturn V was an American human-rated expendable rocket used by NASA's Apollo and Skylab programs from 1967 until 1973. A multistage liquid-fueled launch vehicle, NASA launched 13 Saturn Vs from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida with no loss of crew or payload...
.
As both nations rushed to get their new spacecraft flying with men, the intensity of the competition caught up to them in early 1967, when they suffered their first crew fatalities. On January 27, the entire crew of Apollo 1
Apollo 1
Apollo 1 was scheduled to be the first manned mission of the Apollo manned lunar landing program, with a target launch date of February 21, 1967. A cabin fire during a launch pad test on January 27 at Launch Pad 34 at Cape Canaveral killed all three crew members: Command Pilot Virgil "Gus"...
, "Gus" Grissom
Gus Grissom
Virgil Ivan Grissom , , better known as Gus Grissom, was one of the original NASA Project Mercury astronauts and a United States Air Force pilot...
, Ed White
Edward Higgins White
Edward Higgins White, II was an engineer, United States Air Force officer and NASA astronaut. On June 3, 1965, he became the first American to "walk" in space. White died along with fellow astronauts Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee during a pre-launch test for the first manned Apollo mission at...
, and Roger Chaffee, were killed by suffocation in a fire that swept through their cabin during a ground test approximately one month before their planned launch. Then on April 24, the single pilot of Soyuz 1
Soyuz 1
Soyuz 1 was a manned spaceflight of the Soviet space program. Launched into orbit on April 23, 1967 carrying cosmonaut Colonel Vladimir Komarov, Soyuz 1 was the first flight of the Soyuz spacecraft...
, Vladimir Komarov, was killed in a crash when his landing parachutes tangled, after a mission cut short by electrical and control system problems. Both accidents were determined to be caused by design defects in the spacecraft, which were corrected before manned flights resumed.
Apollo 11
In early 1969, Bill Anders accepted a job with the National Space Council effective in August 1969 and announced his retirement as an astronaut. At that point Ken Mattingly was moved from the support crew into parallel training with Anders as backup Command Module Pilot in case Apollo 11 was...
. Neil Armstrong
Neil Armstrong
Neil Alden Armstrong is an American former astronaut, test pilot, aerospace engineer, university professor, United States Naval Aviator, and the first person to set foot upon the Moon....
and Buzz Aldrin
Buzz Aldrin
Buzz Aldrin is an American mechanical engineer, retired United States Air Force pilot and astronaut who was the Lunar Module pilot on Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing in history...
became the first men to set foot on the Moon. Six such successful landings were achieved through 1972, with one failure on Apollo 13
Apollo 13
Apollo 13 was the seventh manned mission in the American Apollo space program and the third intended to land on the Moon. The craft was launched on April 11, 1970, at 13:13 CST. The landing was aborted after an oxygen tank exploded two days later, crippling the service module upon which the Command...
.
The N1 rocket suffered four catastrophic unmanned launch failures between 1969 and 1972, and the Soviet government officially discontinued its manned lunar program on June 24, 1974 when Valentin Glushko
Valentin Glushko
Valentin Petrovich Glushko or Valentyn Petrovych Hlushko was a Soviet engineer, and the principal Soviet designer of rocket engines during the Soviet/American Space Race.-Biography:...
succeeded Korolyov as General spacecraft Designer.
Both nations went on to fly relatively small, non-permanent manned space laboratories Salyut and Skylab
Skylab
Skylab was a space station launched and operated by NASA, the space agency of the United States. Skylab orbited the Earth from 1973 to 1979, and included a workshop, a solar observatory, and other systems. It was launched unmanned by a modified Saturn V rocket, with a mass of...
, using their Soyuz and Apollo craft as shuttles. The US launched only one Skylab, but the USSR launched a total of seven "Salyuts", three of which were secretly Almaz
Almaz
The Almaz program was a series of military space stations launched by the Soviet Union under cover of the civilian Salyut DOS-17K program after 1971....
military manned reconnaissance stations, which carried "defensive" cannons. Manned reconnaissance stations were found to be a bad idea, since unmanned satellites could do the job much more cost-effectively. The United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
had planned a manned reconnaissance station, the Manned Orbital Laboratory which was cancelled in 1969. The Soviets cancelled Almaz in 1978.
In a season of detente
Détente
Détente is the easing of strained relations, especially in a political situation. The term is often used in reference to the general easing of relations between the Soviet Union and the United States in the 1970s, a thawing at a period roughly in the middle of the Cold War...
, the two competitors declared an end to the race and shook hands (literally) on July 17, 1975 with the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project
Apollo-Soyuz Test Project
-Backup crew:-Crew notes:Jack Swigert had originally been assigned as the command module pilot for the ASTP prime crew, but prior to the official announcement he was removed as punishment for his involvement in the Apollo 15 postage stamp scandal.-Soyuz crew:...
, where the two craft docked and the crews exchanged visits.
US Space Shuttle
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...
) on the 20th anniversary of Gagarin's flight, 12 April 1981. On 15 November 1988, the Soviet Union attempted to duplicate this with the Buran
Buran
Buran may refer to:* Buran , a Soviet space shuttle** Buran program, which developed the spacecraft* Buran eavesdropping device, invented by Léon Theremin, used by soviet intelligence* Buran cruise missile, a Soviet cruise missile...
shuttle, its first and only reusable spacecraft. It was never used again after the first flight; instead the Soviet Union continued to develop space stations using the Soyuz craft as the crew shuttle.
Sally Ride
Sally Ride
Sally Kristen Ride is an American physicist and a former NASA astronaut. Ride joined NASA in 1978, and in 1983 became the first American woman—and then-youngest American, at 32—to enter space...
became the first American woman in space in 1983. Eileen Collins
Eileen Collins
Eileen Marie Collins is a retired American astronaut and a retired U.S. Air Force Colonel. A former military instructor and test pilot, Collins was the first female pilot and first female commander of a Space Shuttle. She was awarded several medals for her work. Col. Collins has logged 38 days 8...
was the first female Shuttle pilot, and with Shuttle mission STS-93
STS-93
STS-93 marked the 95th launch of the Space Shuttle, the 26th launch of Columbia, and the 21st night launch of a Space Shuttle. Eileen Collins became the first female shuttle Commander on this flight. Its primary payload was the Chandra X-ray Observatory. It would also be the last mission of...
in July 1999 she became the first woman to command a U.S. spacecraft.
The longest single human spaceflight is that of Valeriy Polyakov
Valeriy Polyakov
Valeri Vladimirovich Polyakov is a former Russian cosmonaut. He is the holder of the record for the longest single spaceflight in human history,staying aboard the Mir space station for more than 14 months during one trip....
, who left earth on January 8, 1994, and didn't return until March 22, 1995 (a total of 437 days 17 hr. 58 min. 16 sec. aboard). Sergei Krikalyov has spent the most time of anyone in space, 803 days, 9 hours, and 39 seconds altogether. The longest period of continuous human presence in space lasted as long as 3,644 days, eight days short of 10 years, spanning the launch of Soyuz TM-8
Soyuz TM-8
-Launch and Docking:The Soyuz-U2 rocket was painted with advertisements. During the Soyuz spacecraft's final approach to Mir , the Kurs rendezvous and docking system malfunctioned, so Viktorenko took over manual control and withdrew to 20 metres, and then docked manually...
on September 5, 1989 to the landing of Soyuz TM-29
Soyuz TM-29
Soyuz TM-29 was a Russian manned spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard a Soyuz 11A511U rocket. It docked with Mir on February 22 at 05:36 GMT with Cosmonauts Viktor Afanasyev of Russia, Jean-Pierre Haigneré of France, and Ivan Bella of Slovakia aboard. Since two crew seats had...
on August 28, 1999.
International Space Station
Recent space exploration has proceeded, to some extent in worldwide cooperation, the high point of which was the construction and operation of the International Space StationInternational Space Station
The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...
. At the same time, the international space race between smaller space powers since the end of the 20th century can be considered the foundation and expansion of markets of commercial rocket launches and space tourism
Space tourism
Space Tourism is space travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. A number of startup companies have sprung up in recent years, hoping to create a space tourism industry...
.
The United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
continued missions to the ISS and other goals with the high-cost shuttle system, which will be retired in 2011. It also continues other space exploration, including major participation with the ISS with its own modules. It also plans a set of unmanned Mars probes, military satellites, and more. The Constellation space program, begun by President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
in 2004, aimed to launch a next-generation multifunction Orion
Orion (spacecraft)
Orion is a spacecraft designed by Lockheed Martin for NASA, the space agency of the United States. Orion development began in 2005 as part of the Constellation program, where Orion would fulfill the function of a Crew Exploration Vehicle....
spacecraft by 2018. A subsequent return to the Moon by 2020 was to be followed by manned flights to Mars, but the program was canceled in 2010 in favor of encouraging commercial US manned launch capabilities.
Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, the successor to the Soviet Union, has high potential but smaller funding. Its own space programs, some of a military nature, perform several functions. They offer a wide commercial launch service while continuing to support the ISS with a several of their own modules. They also operate manned and cargo spacecraft which will continue after US Shuttle program ends. They are developing a new multi-function PPTS
Prospective Piloted Transport System
PPTS , unofficially called Rus, is a project being undertaken by the Russian Federal Space Agency to develop a new-generation manned spacecraft...
manned spacecraft for use in 2018 and have plans to perform manned moon missions also. The program aims to put a man on the moon in the 2020s, becoming the second country to do so.
Programs of other nations
Later, cosmonauts and astronauts from other nations flew in space, beginning with the flight of Vladimir RemekVladimír Remek
Vladimír Remek is the first Czechoslovak in space and the first cosmonaut from a country other than the Soviet Union or the United States. As of 2004, with the entry of the Czech Republic into the European Union Vladimír Remek is considered to be the first astronaut from the EU...
, a Czech
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
, on a Soviet spacecraft on March 2, 1978. As of 2007, citizens from 33 nations (including space tourists
Space tourism
Space Tourism is space travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. A number of startup companies have sprung up in recent years, hoping to create a space tourism industry...
) have flown in space aboard Soviet, American, Russian, and Chinese spacecraft.
China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
are increasingly capable of competing in space research and activity. These nations form the main players in the Asian space race
Asian space race
Several Asian countries have national space programs, and they are considered to be competing with each other to achieve scientific and technological advancements in space. The media has occasionally called this competition the Asian space race. The exploration of Outer space is of strategic...
.
European Union
The European Space AgencyEuropean Space Agency
The European Space Agency , established in 1975, is an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 18 member states...
has taken the lead in commercial unmanned launches since the introduction of the Ariane 4
Ariane 4
Ariane 4 was an expendable launch system, designed by the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales and manufactured and marketed by its subsidiary Arianespace. Ariane 4 was justly known as the ‘workhorse’ of the Ariane family. Since its first flight on 15 June 1988 until the last, on 15 February 2003, it...
in 1988, but is in competition with NASA, Russia, Sea Launch
Sea Launch
Sea Launch is a spacecraft launch service that uses a mobile sea platform for equatorial launches of commercial payloads on specialized Zenit 3SL rockets...
(private), China, India and others. The ESA-designed manned shuttle Hermes
Hermes (shuttle)
Hermes was a proposed spaceplane designed by the French Centre National d'Études Spatiales in 1975, and later by the European Space Agency. It was superficially similar to the US X-20. France proposed in January 1985 to go through with Hermes development under the auspices of the ESA. Hermes was...
and space station Columbus
Columbus (spacecraft)
The Columbus Man-Tended Free Flyer was a European Space Agency program to develop a space station that could be used for a variety of microgravity experiments while serving ESA's needs for an autonomous manned space platform...
were under development in the late 1980's in Europe, however these projects were canceled, and Europe did not become the third major "space power".
Europe has launched various satellites, has utilized the manned Spacelab
Spacelab
Spacelab was a reusable laboratory used on certain spaceflights flown by the Space Shuttle. The laboratory consisted of multiple components, including a pressurized module, an unpressurized carrier and other related hardware housed in the Shuttle's cargo bay...
module aboard US shuttles, and has sent probes to comets and Mars. It also participates in ISS with its own module and the unmanned cargo spacecraft ATV
Automated Transfer Vehicle
The Automated Transfer Vehicle or ATV is an expendable, unmanned resupply spacecraft developed by the European Space Agency . ATVs are designed to supply the International Space Station with propellant, water, air, payload and experiments...
.
Currently ESA has a program for development of an independent multi-function manned spacecraft CSTS
CSTS
CSTS or ACTS is a human spaceflight system proposal. It was originally a joint project between the European Space Agency and the Russian Space Agency , but is now solely an ESA project...
scheduled for completion in 2018. Further goals include an ambitious plan called the Aurora Programme
Aurora Programme
The Aurora programme is a human spaceflight programme of the European Space Agency established in 2001 with the primary objectives of creating, and then implementing, a European long-term plan for exploration of the Solar System using robotic spacecraft and human spaceflight...
which intends to send a human mission to Mars soon after 2030. A set of various landmark missions to reach this goal are currently under consideration. The ESA has a multi-lateral partnership, and plans for spacecraft and further missions with foreign participation and co-funding.
China
The People's Republic of ChinaPeople's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, while possessing less funding than Europe's ESA and the United State's NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
, has achieved manned space flight, currently operate a commercial unmanned launch service, and owns multiple satellites. There are plans for a Chinese space station and a program to send unmanned probes to Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
in the near future. China stands poised to become the third space power.
China's first attempt at a manned spacecraft, Shuguang
Shuguang spacecraft
Shuguang One , meaning "dawn" in Mandarin, also known as Project 714 , was the first manned spacecraft proposed by the People's Republic of China during the late 1960s and early 1970s that was never built. The design was for a two-man capsule, similar to the American Gemini spacecraft, that could...
. was abandoned after years of development. But on October 15, 2003, it became the third nation to achieve human spaceflight when Yang Liwei
Yang Liwei
Yáng Lìwěi is a Chinese major general and military pilot and a CNSA astronaut. He was the first man sent into space by the Chinese space program and his mission, Shenzhou 5, made China the third country to independently send people into space.-Background:...
launched into space on Shenzhou 5
Shenzhou 5
Shenzhou 5 — was the first human spaceflight mission of the People's Republic of China , launched on October 15, 2003. The Shenzhou spacecraft was launched on a Long March 2F launch vehicle. There had been four previous flights of unmanned Shenzhou missions since 1999...
. This flight demonstrated China's capability to build its own manned spacecraft and launch vehicle.
The aggressiveness of China's progress has raised concerns by other nations. The US Pentagon
The Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...
released a report in 2006 detailing concerns of China's growing presence in space, including its capability for military action. In 2007 China tested a ballistic missile designed to destroy satellites in orbit, in
violation of an international consensus against military maneuvers in space.
India
ISRO, IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
's national space agency, maintains an active space program and leads the group of Asian nations in major achievements and future plans. It operates a small commercial launch service and launched a successful unmanned lunar mission dubbed Chandrayaan-1 in October, 2007. India has plans for a further unmanned mission to the Moon in the near future, as well as a missions to Mars by 2012. The ISRO is currently developing a small shuttle system. With the recent success and a developing missions for manned inter-planet flights by 2025 to 2030, India has positioned itself as a contender for the third space power.
Japan
Japan's space agency, JAXA, is the third major player in the Asian space raceAsian space race
Several Asian countries have national space programs, and they are considered to be competing with each other to achieve scientific and technological advancements in space. The media has occasionally called this competition the Asian space race. The exploration of Outer space is of strategic...
. While not maintaining a commercial launch service, Japan has deployed a module in the ISS and operates an unmanned cargo spacecraft, the H-II Transfer Vehicle
H-II Transfer Vehicle
The H-II Transfer Vehicle , called , is an unmanned resupply spacecraft used to resupply the Kibō Japanese Experiment Module and the International Space Station . The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has been working on the design since the early 1990s. The first mission, HTV-1, was originally...
.
JAXA has plans to launch a Mars fly-by probe. Their lunar probe, SELENE
SELENE
SELENE , better known in Japan by its nickname after the legendary Japanese moon princess, was the second Japanese lunar orbiter spacecraft. Produced by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science and the National Space Development Agency , both now part of the Japan Aerospace Exploration...
, is touted as the most sophisticated lunar exploration mission in the post-Apollo era.
Although Japan developed the HOPE-X
HOPE-X
HOPE was a Japanese experimental spaceplane project designed by a partnership between NASDA and NAL , started in the 1980s. It was positioned for most of its lifetime as one of the main Japanese contributions to the International Space Station, the other being the Japanese Experiment Module...
, Kankoh-maru
Kankoh-maru
The is the name of a proposed vertical takeoff and landing, single-stage to orbit, reusable launch vehicle family of rockets, and the spacecraft tour vehicle designed to be boosted by said rocket.-Details:...
, and Fuji
Fuji (Spacecraft)
Fuji was a manned spacecraft of the space capsule kind, proposed by Japan's National Space Development Agency Advanced mission Research center in December 2001...
manned capsule spacecraft, none of them have been launched. Japan's current ambition is to deploy a new manned spacecraft by 2025, and to establish a Moon base by 2030.
Other nations
IranIran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
recently announced plans to begin its manned program in 2021.
See also
- Space RaceSpace RaceThe Space Race was a mid-to-late 20th century competition between the Soviet Union and the United States for supremacy in space exploration. Between 1957 and 1975, Cold War rivalry between the two nations focused on attaining firsts in space exploration, which were seen as necessary for national...
- Timeline of spaceflight
- Aviation historyAviation historyThe history of aviation has extended over more than two thousand years from the earliest attempts in kites and gliders to powered heavier-than-air, supersonic and hypersonic flight.The first form of man-made flying objects were kites...
- Timeline of Solar System explorationTimeline of solar system explorationThis is a timeline of Solar System exploration ordered by date of spacecraft launch. It includes:*All spacecraft that have left Earth orbit for the purposes of Solar System exploration , including lunar probes....