Spacecraft

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A 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

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Saturn's Mysterious Hexagon Emerges from Winter Darkness

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 09, 2009 | 5 / 5 (23) | 21

(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 ...

Scientists explain puzzling lake asymmetry on Titan

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Nov 29, 2009 | 4.4 / 5 (14) | 0

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) suggest that the eccentricity of Saturn's orbit around the sun may be responsible for the unusually uneven distribution of methane and ethane ...

Superconductor magnet heat shield being developed

Superconductor magnet spacecraft heat shield being developed

Physics / General Physics

Nov 26, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (44) | 28

(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 ...

Scientists discover fog on Titan

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 18, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (11) | 2

Saturn's largest moon, Titan, looks to be the only place in the solar system—aside from our home planet, Earth—with copious quantities of liquid (largely, liquid methane and ethane) sitting on its surface. ...

Glint of Sunlight Confirms Liquid in Northern Lake District of Titan

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 17, 2009 | 5 / 5 (14) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Cassini Spacecraft has captured the first flash of sunlight reflected off a lake on Saturn's moon Titan, confirming the presence of liquid on the part of the moon dotted with many large, ...

Icy moons of Saturn and Jupiter may have conditions needed for life

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Dec 15, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (16) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists once thought that life could originate only within a solar system's "habitable zone," where a planet would be neither too hot nor too cold for liquid water to exist on its surface. ...

MESSENGER team releases first global map of mercury

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 15, 2009 | 5 / 5 (7) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's MESSENGER mission team and cartographic experts from the U. S. Geological Survey have created a critical tool for planning the first orbital observations of the planet Mercury - a global ...

Keeping Mars Contained

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 04, 2009 | 5 / 5 (4) | 1

When robotic spacecraft bring a sample of Mars back to Earth, scientists will need specially-designed facilities to study the samples and prevent them from escaping to the outside world.

NASA: Floating 'junk' no threat to space station

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Nov 28, 2009 | 4.7 / 5 (3) | 0

(AP) -- NASA says a piece of old space junk that it's been tracking for a few days is no threat to the International Space Station.

Russia: no space for space tourists

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Nov 26, 2009 | 2.7 / 5 (3) | 1

(AP) -- A top Russian space official says there is no space for tourists wishing to fly to the International Space Station.

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Resumes Observations

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 16, 2009 | 4.6 / 5 (5) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers are receiving new science data from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter after the spacecraft's six science instruments resumed observations today.

Magnetic Dance of Titan and Saturn To Be Main Attraction during Flyby

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 14, 2009 | not rated yet | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- When it flies by Saturn's largest moon, Titan, this weekend, NASA's Cassini spacecraft will study the interactions between the magnetic field of Saturn and Titan. The flyby will take place ...

Weir in space and dimmed sun creates 200-million-mile-long lab bench for turbulence research

Physics / General Physics

Dec 11, 2009 | 5 / 5 (3) | 0

Physicists working in space plasmas have made clever use of the Ulysses spacecraft and the solar minimum to create a massive virtual lab bench to provide a unique test for the science underlying turbulent ...

WISE Launch Delayed 24 Hours

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 10, 2009 | 5 / 5 (2) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Liftoff of a Delta II rocket and its NASA payload, the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), has been delayed 24 hours. At the soonest, launch now will be Saturday, Dec. 12, during a ...