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Spacecraft
hideA spacecraft is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. On a sub-orbital spaceflight, a spacecraft enters space then returns to the Earth. For an orbital spaceflight, a spacecraft enters a closed orbit around the planetary body. Spacecraft used for human spaceflight carry people on board as crew or passengers. Spacecraft used for robotic space missions operate either autonomously or telerobotically. Robotic spacecraft that leave the vicinity of the planetary body are space probes. Robotic spacecraft that remain in orbit around the planetary body are artificial satellites. Starships, which are built for interstellar travel, are so far a theoretical concept only (aside from a handful of interstellar probes such as Pioneer 10 and 11, Voyager, and New Horizons).
Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and space tourism. Spacecraft and space travel are common themes in works of science fiction.
For more information about Spacecraft, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with spacecraft
New NASA Satellite Survey Reveals Dramatic Arctic Sea Ice Thinning
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jul 07, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (65) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Arctic sea ice thinned dramatically between the winters of 2004 and 2008, with thin seasonal ice replacing thick older ice as the dominant type for the first time on record. The new results, ...
Superconductor magnet spacecraft heat shield being developed
Nov 26, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (44) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- European space agencies and an aerospace giant are developing a new re-entry heat shield that will use superconductor magnets to generate a magnetic field strong enough to deflect the superhot ...
Rotating Space Elevator Propels its Own Load
May 21, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (44) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The idea of the space elevator just got a little crazier. While the “traditional” concept involved using rocket propulsion or laser light pressure to propel loads up a cable anchored to Earth, ...
Mystery of the Solar Tsunami -- Solved (w/ Video)
Nov 19, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (27) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Sometimes you really can believe your eyes. That's what NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) is telling researchers about a controversial phenomenon on the sun known as ...
Gravitational Space Corridors Could Slash Space Travel Costs (w/ Video)
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Sep 16, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (29) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists studying space travel possibilities have proposed that gravitational space corridors could be used by spacecraft, in much the same way as ships use ocean currents. Taking advantage ...
Large Hadron Collider could test hyperdrive propulsion
Oct 09, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The world's most powerful particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), could be used to test the principles behind hyperdrive, a possible future form of spacecraft propulsion that could drive spacecraft ...
Saturn's Mysterious Hexagon Emerges from Winter Darkness
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 09, 2009 |
5 / 5 (23) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- After waiting years for the sun to illuminate Saturn's north pole again, cameras aboard NASA's Cassini spacecraft have captured the most detailed images yet of the intriguing hexagon shape ...
The Stars My Destination
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 10, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (23) |
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The Voyager spacecraft are now in the outermost layer of the heliosphere, traveling toward interstellar space - the first man-made spacecraft to travel such a vast distance from Earth.
Scientists Explore Galactic Frontier, Release First-Ever All-Sky Map (w/ Video)
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Oct 15, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (23) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer, or IBEX, spacecraft has made it possible for scientists to construct the first comprehensive sky map of our solar system and its location in the Milky ...
Monster Waves on the Sun are Real (w/ Video)
Nov 25, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (20) |
2
Sometimes you really can believe your eyes. That's what NASA's STEREO (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory) spacecraft are telling researchers about a controversial phenomenon on the sun known as the "solar ...
Fantastic Voyage
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 02, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (19) |
3
By travelling to the outer solar system, the two Voyager spacecraft allowed us to see amazing details of far-distant planets and moons.
NASA launches probe to study edge of solar system (Update)
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Oct 19, 2008 |
4.7 / 5 (19) |
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NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer mission, or IBEX, successfully launched from the Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean at 1:47 p.m. EDT, Sunday. IBEX will be the first spacecraft to image and map dynamic ...
How Low Can It Go? Sun Plunges into the Quietest Solar Minimum in a Century
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Apr 01, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (18) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The sunspot cycle is behaving a little like the stock market. Just when you think it has hit bottom, it goes even lower.
First discovery of life's building block in comet made
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Aug 17, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (18) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA scientists have discovered glycine, a fundamental building block of life, in samples of comet Wild 2 returned by NASA's Stardust spacecraft.
Evidence for ocean on Enceladus: Tiny Saturn Moon Could Be Targeted in Search for Extraterrestrial Life
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Jul 22, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (16) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Plumes spewing from a tiny moon of Saturn - a moon roughly the width of Arizona - are filled with molecules that suggest that the moon, Enceladus, is likely another place in the solar system ...
