Related topics: nasa , moon , international space station , satellite , mars reconnaissance orbiter
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
Rotating Space Elevator Propels its Own Load
May 21, 2009 |
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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, ...
Saturn's Mysterious Hexagon Emerges from Winter Darkness
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 09, 2009 |
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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 ...
Scientists explain puzzling lake asymmetry on Titan
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 29, 2009 |
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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 spacecraft heat shield being developed
Nov 26, 2009 |
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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 ...
Monster Waves on the Sun are Real (w/ Video)
Nov 25, 2009 |
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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 ...
Cassini's Big Sky: The View from the Center of Our Solar System
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 20, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- When NASA's Cassini spacecraft began orbiting Saturn five years ago, a dozen highly-tuned science instruments set to work surveying, sniffing, analyzing and scrutinizing the Saturnian system.
Mystery of the Solar Tsunami -- Solved (w/ Video)
Nov 19, 2009 |
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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 ...
Rosetta bound for outer Solar System after final Earth swingby (w/ Video)
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 13, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- This morning, mission controllers confirmed that ESA’s comet chaser Rosetta had swung by Earth at 8:45 CET as planned, skimming past our planet to pick up a gravitational boost for an epic ...
Robot Armada Might Scale New Worlds
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Oct 28, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- An armada of robots may one day fly above the mountain tops of Saturn's moon Titan, cross its vast dunes and sail in its liquid lakes.
Scientists Explore Galactic Frontier, Release First-Ever All-Sky Map (w/ Video)
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Oct 15, 2009 |
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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 ...
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 ...
New NASA temperature maps provide 'whole new way of seeing the moon'
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Sep 17, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's first-ever moon temperature-mapping effort has returned its first data.
Gravitational Space Corridors Could Slash Space Travel Costs (w/ Video)
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Sep 16, 2009 |
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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 ...
Signs of ideal surfing conditions spotted in ocean of solar wind
Aug 31, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the University of Warwick have found what could be the signal of ideal wave "surfing" conditions for individual particles within the massive turbulent ocean of the solar wind. The discovery ...
First discovery of life's building block in comet made
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Aug 17, 2009 |
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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.
