X-Plane program[edit]
Since 1945, NACA (NASA’s predecessor) and, since 1958, NASA have conducted the X-Plane Program. The program was originally intended to create a family of experimental aircraft not intended for production beyond the limited number of each design built solely for flight research.[2] The first X-Plane, the Bell X-1, was the first rocket-powered airplane to break the sound barrier on October 14, 1947.[3] X-Planes have set numerous milestones since then, both manned and unmanned.[4]
Crewed missions[edit]
Shuttle launch profiles. From left to right: Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour.
Astronauts Andrew Feustel (right) and Michael Fincke, outside the ISS during the STS-134 mission’s thirdspacewalk.
Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt standing next to a boulder at Taurus-Littrow.
Astronaut Wisoff on a robotic arm, 1993
Human spaceflight[edit]
NASA has successfully launched over 200 manned flights. Two have ended in failure, causing the death of the entire crew: STS-51-L (the Challenger disaster) in 1986, and STS-107 (the Columbia disaster) in 2003. (Apollo 1 in 1967 lost three crew members but never launched.)
| Program | Start date | End date | No. of launched crewed missions |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mercury program | 1959 | 1963 | 6 | First U.S. crewed program |
| Gemini program | 1963 | 1966 | 10 | Program used to practice space rendezvous and EVAs |
| Apollo program | 1961 | 1972 | 11[a] | Brought first human to the Moon |
| Skylab | 1973 | 1974 | 3 | The crewed missions only took place in 1973 and 1974; first American space station |
| Apollo–Soyuz Test Project | 1975 | 1975 | 1 | Joint with Soviet Union |
| Shuttle-Mir Program | 1995 | 1998 | 9[b] | Russian partnership |
| Project Constellation | 2003 | 2010[5] | 0 | Cancelled program to bring humans to the Moon again, to Mars and beyond |
| Space Shuttle | 1981 | 2011 | 135 | First missions in which a spacecraft was reused |
| International Space Station | 1998 | Ongoing | 54 | Joint with Roscosmos, CSA, ESA, and JAXA along with co-operators ASI and AEB |
Notes:
- Apollo 1 was unlaunched due to a fire during testing that killed the astronauts, and is not counted here.
- The Shuttle-Mir missions were all Space Shuttle missions, and are also counted under the Space Shuttle program missions in the table.
Future[edit]
On May 7, the Obama Administration announced the launch of an independent review of planned U.S. human space flight activities with the goal of ensuring that the nation is on a vigorous and sustainable path to achieving its boldest aspirations in space. The review was conducted by a panel of experts led by Norman Augustine, the former CEO of Lockheed Martin, who served on the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology under both Democrat and Republican presidents.
The “Review of United States Human Space Flight Plans” was to examine ongoing and planned National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) development activities, as well as potential alternatives and present options for advancing a safe, innovative, affordable, and sustainable human space flight program in the years following Space Shuttle retirement. The panel worked closely with NASA and sought input from the United States Congress, the White House, the public, industry, and international partners as it developed its options. It presented its results on October 22, 2009.[6][7]
In February 2010, Obama announced his proposal to cancel the Constellation Program as part of the 2011 Economic Projects. Constellation was officially cancelled by the NASA Budget Authorization Act on 11 October 2010.
NASA brought the Orion MPCV back to life from the defunct Constellation Program and successfully test launched the first capsule on December 5, 2014 aboard EFT-1. After a near perfect flight traveling 3600 miles above Earth, the spacecraft was recovered for study. NASA plans to use the Orion crew vehicle to send humans to deep space locations such as the Moon, Near Earth Asteroids, and Mars starting in the 2020s. Orion will be powered by NASA’s new heavy lift vehicle, the Space Launch System (SLS), which is currently under development. Orion’s next flight, along with the first SLS flight, is slated to launch in December 2019, with the designation of Exploration Mission 1. This mission will send an uncrewed Orion capsule around the Moon. It will be succeeded by Exploration Mission 2, sending a crewed Orion spacecraft to an undetermined location in the early 2020s.
SPACE VENTURE 