Explorer 9 [SEP] time of spacecraft launch
[{"answer": "16 February 1961", "provenance": [{"wikipedia_id": "27742606", "title": "Explorer 9", "start_paragraph_id": 5, "start_character": 242, "end_paragraph_id": 5, "end_character": 447, "bleu_score": 0.7433688482399038, "meta": {}, "section": "Section::::Mission.\n"}]}]
Solar electric propulsion


Solar electric propulsion (SEP) typically refers to the combination of solar cells and an ion drive to propel a spacecraft through outer space. This technology has been exploited in a variety of spacecraft by the European Space Agency, the Japanese Space Agency, Indian Space Research Organisation and NASA. SEP is valued for its potential for a high specific impulse, thus allowing less mass for propellant to be launched with a spacecraft and it has been evaluated for mission to Mars. Solar electric propulsion combines solar panels on spacecraft and ion thrusters,
19663908
Explorer 19


Explorer 19 was an American satellite launched on December 19, 1963, as part of NASA's Explorers program. It was the third of six identical Explorer satellites launched to study air density and composition, and the second to reach orbit. It was identical to Explorer 9. Explorer 9 was still operational when Explorer 19 was launched, allowing simultaneous readings to be taken and compared. The spacecraft consisted of alternating layers of aluminium foil and Mylar polyester film. Uniformly distributed over the aluminium surface were 5.1 cm-diameter dots of white
15973653
Explorer 9


. The sphere was packed in a tube 21.6 cm in diameter and 48.3 cm long and mounted in the nose of the fourth stage of its Scout X-1 launch vehicle. Explorer 9 was launched from Launch Area 3 at the Wallops Flight Center, atop a Scout X-1 rocket with the serial number ST-4. It was the first spacecraft launched from Wallops Island to achieve orbit, with one previous attempt having failed. The launch occurred at 13:05:00 UTC on 16 February 1961, and resulted in Explorer 9 being deployed into an orbit with an
18530450
Surveyor 2


Surveyor 2 was to be the second lunar lander in the uncrewed American Surveyor program to explore the Moon. It was launched September 20, 1966 from Cape Kennedy, Florida aboard an Atlas-Centaur rocket. A mid-course correction failure resulted in the spacecraft losing control. Contact was lost with the spacecraft at 9:35 UTC, September 22. On February 3, 1966 Luna 9 spacecraft was the first spacecraft to achieve a lunar soft landing and to transmit photographic data to Earth. Several months after, Surveyor 1 launched on May
12572602
Explorer 24


Explorer 24 (also called AD-B and S-56C) wan an U.S. satellite to atmospheric studies. Explorer 24 was launched on 21 November 1964 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Lompoc, California, with Scout rocket. Explorer 24 was released along with its successor satellite, Explorer 25. Explorer 24 was placed in orbit together with Explorer 25 from a single launch vehicle. Explorer 24 was identical in configuration to the previously launched balloon satellites Explorer 9 and 19. The spacecraft was 3.6 m in diameter, was built of alternating layers
17349550
Explorer 18


Explorer 18, also called IMP-A, IMP 1 and S-74, was an American satellite launched as part of the Explorers program. Explorer 18 was launched on 27 November 1963 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, United States, with a Delta rocket. Explorer 18 was the first satellite of the Interplanetary Monitoring Platform. Explorer 18 was a solar cell and chemical-battery powered spacecraft instrumented for interplanetary and distant magnetospheric studies of energetic particles, cosmic rays, magnetic fields, and plasmas. Initial spacecraft parameters included a local time of
16333092
Explorer 31


Explorer 31 (also called DME-A) was an American satellite launched as part of the Explorers program of NASA. Explorer 29 was launched on 29 November 1965 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, United States, with Thor Agena rocket. Explorer 31 was released along with the Canadian satellite Alouette 2. Explorer 31 was a small ionospheric observatory instrumented to make direct measurements of selected ionospheric parameters at the spacecraft. Since the spacecraft had no tape recorder, data could be observed at the spacecraft only when the spacecraft was in
17349725
Comparison of Asian national space programs


FSW series, have undergone many atmospheric reentry tests. In the 1990s China had commercial launches, resulting in more launch experiences and a high success rate after the 1990s. China has aimed to undertake scientific development in fields like Solar System exploration. China's Shenzhou 7 spacecraft successfully performed an EVA in September 2008. China's Shenzhou 9 spacecraft successfully performed a manned docking in June 2012. Furthermore, China's Chang'e 2 explorer became the first object to reach Sun-Earth Lagrangian point in August 2011 and also the first probe to
4956949
Pioneer Venus Multiprobe


The Pioneer Venus Multiprobe, also known as Pioneer Venus 2 or Pioneer 13, was a spacecraft launched in 1978 to explore Venus as part of NASA's Pioneer program. This part of the mission included a spacecraft Bus which was launched from Earth carrying one large and three smaller probes, which after separating penetrated the Venusian atmosphere at a different location, returning data as they descended into the planet's thick atmosphere. The entry occurred on December 9, 1978. There was also an orbiter launched this year, part of the overall
17230638
Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer


The program was managed through the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The WISE instrument was built by the Space Dynamics Laboratory in Logan, Utah. The WISE spacecraft bus was built by Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colorado. The spacecraft is derived from the Ball Aerospace RS-300 spacecraft architecture, particularly the NEXTSat spacecraft built for the successful Orbital Express mission launched on March 9, 2007. The flight system has an estimated mass of . The spacecraft is three-axis stabilized, with body-fixed solar arrays. It uses a high
11782438
Explorer 9


Explorer 9, known as S-56A before launch, was an American satellite which was launched in 1961 to study the density and composition of the upper thermosphere and lower exosphere. It was a reflight of the failed S-56 mission, and consisted of a , balloon which was deployed into a medium Earth orbit. The mission was conducted by NASA's Langley Research Center. The spacecraft consisted of alternating layers of aluminium foil and Mylar polyester film. Uniformly distributed over the aluminium surface were 5.1 cm-diameter dots of white paint for thermal control
18530449
Exploration of Mars


. Mariner 9 successfully entered orbit about Mars, the first spacecraft ever to do so, after the launch time failure of its sister ship, Mariner 8. When Mariner 9 reached Mars in 1971, it and two Soviet orbiters (Mars 2 and Mars 3, see "Mars probe program" above) found that a planet-wide dust storm was in progress. The mission controllers used the time spent waiting for the storm to clear to have the probe rendezvous with, and photograph, Phobos. When the storm cleared sufficiently
1581095
International Cometary Explorer


The International Cometary Explorer (ICE) spacecraft (designed and launched as the International Sun-Earth Explorer-3 (ISEE-3) satellite), was launched August 12, 1978, into a heliocentric orbit. It was one of three spacecraft, along with the mother/daughter pair of ISEE-1 and ISEE-2, built for the International Sun-Earth Explorer (ISEE) program, a joint effort by NASA and ESRO/ESA to study the interaction between the Earth's magnetic field and the solar wind. ISEE-3 was the first spacecraft to be
19765228
Galileo (spacecraft)


" RTGs, sought a court injunction prohibiting "Galileo" launch. RTGs had been used for years in planetary exploration without mishap: the Lincoln Experimental Satellites 8/9, launched by the U.S. Department of Defense, had 7% more plutonium on board than "Galileo", and the two "Voyager" spacecraft each carried 80% as much plutonium as "Galileo". Activists remembered the messy crash of the Soviet Union's nuclear-powered Kosmos 954 satellite in Canada in 1978, and the 1986 "Challenger" accident, which
12826640
Deep Space Climate Observatory


In February 2011, the Obama administration attempted to secure funding to re-purpose the DSCOVR spacecraft as a solar observatory to replace the aging Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) spacecraft. In September 2013 NASA cleared "DSCOVR" to proceed to the implementation phase targeting an early 2015 launch, which had been announced in December 2012 as launching on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is providing management and systems engineering to the mission. In the 2017 documentary "", Al Gore speaks of the history of the
8814598
James McDivitt


Earth orbital LM test became Apollo 9, launched on March 3, 1969. After Apollo 9, McDivitt became Manager of Lunar Landing Operations in May 1969, and led a team that planned the lunar exploration program and redesigned the spacecraft to accomplish this task. In August 1969, he became Manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program and was the program manager for Apollo 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16. After leaving the Apollo Program he was offered the opportunity to be the Shuttle Program Director, but elected to leave NASA
180788
Dragon Spacecraft Qualification Unit


. On March 13, 2010, the first stage engines successfully underwent a 3.5 second static test firing, having failed a previous attempt the day before. SpaceX announced in September 2009 that the Dragon Spacecraft Qualification Unit would be the payload for the first Falcon 9 launch. At the time, launch was scheduled to occur no earlier than November 2009. The launch date had been delayed several times for various reasons, The spacecraft was launched and entered orbit on June 4, 2010. The first actual launch attempt targeted a four-
616394
Exploration Ground Systems


including NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft for Artemis 1 (formerly Exploration Mission-1). Artemis 1 is the first in a series of increasingly complex missions that will enable human exploration to the Moon and Mars. Charlie Blackwell-Thompson serves as launch director for NASA's Exploration Ground Systems Program. She will oversee the countdown and liftoff of NASA's Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft. Named to the position in January 2016, Blackwell-Thompson is NASA's first female launch director. August 31
10634369
Earth Escape Explorer


Earth Escape Explorer (CU-E) is a nanosatellite of the 6-Unit CubeSat format that will demonstrate long-distance communications while in heliocentric orbit. The "Earth Escape Explorer" spacecraft is a student-driven effort at University of Colorado Boulder to design and build the spacecraft as part of the NASA CubeQuest Challenge. It will be one of thirteen CubeSats to be carried with the Artemis 1 mission into a heliocentric orbit in cislunar space on the maiden flight of the Space Launch System and the Orion spacecraft, scheduled to launch in
11640365
Explorer 49


Explorer 49 (also called Radio Astronomy Explorer-B(RAE-B)) was a 328-kilogram satellite launched on June 10, 1973 for long wave radio astronomy research. It had four 230-meter-long X-shaped antenna elements, which made it one of the largest spacecraft ever built. "Explorer 49" was launched after the termination of the Apollo program, and although it did not examine the Moon directly, it became the last American lunar orbital mission until the launch of Clementine spacecraft in 1994. This mission was the second
8968403
Tiangong-1


. The Shenzhou 9 spacecraft was delivered to Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center for launch preparations on 9 April 2012, while its Long March 2F carrier rocket arrived a month later on 9 May. Shenzhou 9 launched successfully on 16 June 2012, carrying with it China's first female astronaut, Liu Yang. The spacecraft docked with Tiangong-1 on 18 June 2012 at 14:07 Beijing time (06:07 GMT; 07:07 BST). After about three hours, when the air pressures inside the two vessels were equalized, mission commander Jing Haipeng entered Tiangong-1. The
13114351
Kosmos 96


Kosmos 96 ( meaning "Cosmos 96"), or 3MV-4 No.6, was a Soviet spacecraft intended to explore Venus. A 3MV-4 spacecraft launched as part of the Venera programme, Kosmos 96 was to have made a flyby of Venus; however, due to a launch failure, it did not depart low Earth orbit. The 3MV-4 No.6 spacecraft was originally built for a mission to Mars, with launch scheduled for late 1964. After it was not launched by the end of its launch window, the spacecraft was repurposed, along
17602622
Phobos 1


Phobos 1 was an unmanned Russian space probe of the Phobos Program launched from the Baikonour launch facility on 7 July 1988. Its intended mission was to explore Mars and its moons Phobos and Deimos. The mission failed on 2 September 1988 when a computer malfunction caused the end-of-mission order to be transmitted to the spacecraft. At the time of launch it was the heaviest interplanetary spacecraft ever launched, weighing . It was to take an estimated 200 days for the "Phobos 1" space probe to travel from the Earth
1191573
Explorer 47


Explorer 47, also known IMP-7 and Interplanetary Monitoring Platform IMP-H, was an American satellite launched as part of Explorers program. Explorer 47 as launched on 23 September 1972 on Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., with a Delta rocket. Explorer 47 was the seventh satellite of the Interplanetary Monitoring Platform. Explorer 47 continued the study begun by earlier IMP spacecraft of the interplanetary and magnetotail regions from a nearly circular orbit, near 37 earth radii. This 16 sided drum-shaped spacecraft was high and in diameter. It was
18594339
Space exploration


sent to Mars to study its atmosphere in detail. The Russian space mission Fobos-Grunt, which launched on 9 November 2011 experienced a failure leaving it stranded in low Earth orbit. It was to begin exploration of the Phobos and Martian circumterrestrial orbit, and study whether the moons of Mars, or at least Phobos, could be a "trans-shipment point" for spaceships traveling to Mars. The exploration of Jupiter has consisted solely of a number of automated NASA spacecraft visiting the planet since 1973. A large majority of
8789057
Explorer 34


Explorer 34, also called IMP-4 and Interplanetary Monitoring Platform IMP-F, was an American satellite launched as part of Explorers program. Explorer 34 as launched on 24 May 1967 on Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, United States, with Delta rocket. Explorer 34 was the fourth satellite of the Interplanetary Monitoring Platform. Explorer 34 was placed into a high-inclination, highly eccentric earth orbit. The apogee point was located near the ecliptic plane and had an initial local time of about 1,900 hours. The spacecraft was spin-
18171577
Lander (spacecraft)


Mars Exploration) with orbiter and lander. Recent proposals include a 2008 NASA Glenn Research Center Phobos and Deimos sample return mission, the 2013 Phobos Surveyor, and the OSIRIS-REx II mission concept. The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) plans to launch the Martian Moons Exploration (MMX) in 2024, a sample return mission targeting Phobos. MMX will land and collect samples from Phobos multiple times, along with deploying a rover jointly developed by CNES and DLR. By using a corer sampling mechanism, the spacecraft aims to
14518048
Kosmos 419


9, in the aim of becoming the first Mars orbiter. As it was, Mariner 8 was lost in a launch failure two days before Kosmos 419 was launched, and Mariner 9 went on to become the first spacecraft to orbit Mars. Kosmos 419 was one of three "Mars" spacecraft launched by the Soviet Union in 1971, the others being Mars 2 and Mars 3; launched days after Kosmos 419. Unlike the 4M spacecraft, Mars 2 and 3, Kosmos 419 was a 3MS spacecraft which consisted only of
11026504
2007 in spaceflight


and Mauritian satellites, Libertad 1 and Rascom-QAF 1 respectively, were launched in 2007, although a helium leak reduced Rascom's operational lifetime by thirteen years. Several spacecraft were launched to explore the Moon. Japan's Kaguya orbiter, along with the smaller Okina and Ouna relay spacecraft, was launched on 14 September. The spacecraft entered Selenocentric orbit on 3 October. China launched its first Lunar probe, Chang'e 1, on 24 October, with the spacecraft entering Selenocentric orbit on 5 November. In 2009, two satellites launched
6091469
Exploration Ground Systems


intended to validate the launch team's capability to perform an EM-1 countdown and respond to challenges put into the system for practice. April 15, 2019 – Exploration Ground Systems’ launch team completed their first formal training simulation that will certify the team for the inaugural launch of the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft. The team, led by Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, performed a countdown simulation of loading the SLS with liquid oxygen and hydrogen — complete with surprise issues the team had to work real-time
10634373
Mercury-Atlas 9


Mercury-Atlas 9 was the final crewed space mission of the U.S. Mercury program, launched on May 15, 1963 from Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The spacecraft, named Faith 7, completed 22 Earth orbits before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean, piloted by astronaut Gordon Cooper, then a United States Air Force major. The Atlas rocket was No. 130-D, and the Mercury spacecraft was No. 20. This mission marks the last time an American was launched alone to conduct an entirely solo orbital mission
2037367
Exploration of the Moon


orbit around the Moon. The spacecraft released the Hagoromo probe into lunar orbit, but the transmitter failed, thereby preventing further scientific use of the spacecraft. In September 2007, Japan launched the "SELENE" spacecraft, with the objectives "to obtain scientific data of the lunar origin and evolution and to develop the technology for the future lunar exploration", according to the JAXA official website. The European Space Agency launched a small, low-cost lunar orbital probe called SMART 1 on September 27, 2003. SMART 1's
13608218
Martian Moons Exploration


The Martian Moons Exploration (MMX) is a robotic space probe set for launch in 2024 to bring back the first samples from Mars' largest moon Phobos. Developed by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and announced in 9 June 2015, MMX will land and collect samples from Phobos once or twice, along with conducting Deimos flyby observations and monitoring Mars' climate. The mission aims to provide key information to help determine whether the Martian moons are captured asteroids or the result of a larger body hitting Mars. The spacecraft
14237471
Drag and Atmospheric Neutral Density Explorer


DANDE (or Drag and Atmospheric Neutral Density Explorer) is a 50 kg class spacecraft developed by the University of Colorado Boulder was the winner of the 5th iteration of the Air Force Research Laboratory's University Nanosat Program. Due to a failure in a spacecraft system, the ground team was unable to actively command the satellite and spacecraft became just a passive object in Earth orbit by which some passive drag characteristics might be deduced. DANDE launched on September 29, 2013 and correctly separated from the launch vehicle. After a month of assessing
7201256
ASTRO (satellite)


, from Space Launch Complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The launch was contracted by the Space Test Program to launch the STPSat-1 spacecraft, and was named STP-1. It also deployed NEXTSat; as well as FalconSAT-3, CFESat and MidSTAR-1. The launch marked the first time United Launch Alliance had launched an Atlas V, the type having previously been operated by International Launch Services. ASTRO was a spacecraft, which was built by Boeing. It was operated in low Earth orbit. On 9 March 2007, it had
13729328
NEXTSat


from Space Launch Complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The launch was contracted by the Space Test Program to launch the STPSat-1 spacecraft, and was named STP-1. It also deployed ASTRO; as well as FalconSAT-3, CFESat and MidSTAR-1. The launch marked the first time United Launch Alliance had launched an Atlas V, the type having previously been operated by International Launch Services. NEXTSat is a spacecraft, which was built by Ball Aerospace around the RS-300 satellite bus. It was operated in low Earth orbit; on 9
14097207
Mars program


The Mars program was a series of unmanned spacecraft launched by the Soviet Union between 1960 and 1973. The spacecraft were intended to explore Mars, and included flyby probes, landers and orbiters. Early Mars spacecraft were small, and launched by Molniya rockets. Starting with two failures in 1969, the heavier Proton-K rocket was used to launch larger 5 tonne spacecraft, consisting of an orbiter and a lander to Mars. The orbiter bus design was likely somewhat rushed into service and immature, considering that it performed very unreliably in
3506638
Interstellar object


to assess the feasibility of a mission to ʻOumuamua. Several options for sending a spacecraft to ʻOumuamua within a time-frame of 5 to 25 years were suggested. One option is using first a Jupiter flyby followed by a close solar flyby at in order to take advantage of the Oberth effect. Different mission durations and their velocity requirements were explored with respect to the launch date, assuming direct impulsive transfer to the intercept trajectory. The "Comet Interceptor" spacecraft by ESA and JAXA, planned to launch in 2028, will be
17074131
SpaceX CRS-1


SpaceX CRS-1, also known as SpX-1, was the third flight for Space Exploration Technologies Corporation's (SpaceX) uncrewed Dragon cargo spacecraft, the fourth overall flight for the company's two-stage Falcon 9 launch vehicle, and the first SpaceX operational mission under their Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA. The launch occurred on 7 October 2012 at 20:34 EDT (8 October 2012 at 00:34 UTC). In May 2012, it was reported that the CRS-1 Falcon 9 had been transported to Cape Canaveral. The CRS-1 Dragon later arrived
13995560
Exploration Ground Systems


The Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) Program (formerly the Ground Systems Development and Operations Program) is one of three NASA programs based at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. EGS was established to develop and operate the systems and facilities necessary to process and launch rockets and spacecraft during assembly, transport and launch. Unlike previous work focusing on a single kind of launch vehicle, such as the Saturn V or space shuttle, EGS is preparing the infrastructure to support several different kinds of spacecraft and rockets that are in development,
10634368
Exploration of Mars


, dubbed by NASA as Mars 1969A and Mars 1969B. Both probes were lost in launch-related complications with the newly developed Proton rocket. The USSR intended to have the first artificial satellite of Mars beating the planned American Mariner 8 and Mariner 9 Mars orbiters. In May 1971, one day after Mariner 8 malfunctioned at launch and failed to reach orbit, Cosmos 419 (Mars 1971C), a heavy probe of the Soviet Mars program M-71, also failed to launch. This spacecraft was designed as an orbiter only, while the
1581088
List of Mars orbiters


Agency (ESA) launched their first planetary mission with Mars Express to conduct reconnaissance and exploration of Mars from orbit. On 12 August 2005, NASA launched "Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter" (MRO). As MRO entered orbit in 2006, it joined three other active spacecraft which were in Mars' orbit: Mars Global Surveyor (MGS), Mars Express, and "2001 Mars Odyssey"; at the time, this set a record for the most operational spacecraft in the immediate vicinity of Mars. MGS has since ceased to
5716486
Hayabusa


and sit on the asteroid surface for about 30 minutes (see timeline below). The "Hayabusa" spacecraft was launched on 9 May 2003 at 04:29:25 UTC on an M-V rocket from the Uchinoura Space Center (still called Kagoshima Space Center at that time). Following launch, the spacecraft's name was changed from the original MUSES-C to "Hayabusa", the Japanese word for falcon. The spacecraft's xenon ion engines (four separate units), operating near-continuously for two years, slowly moved
13030280
Luna 9


Luna 9 (Луна-9), internal designation Ye-6 No.13, was an unmanned space mission of the Soviet Union's Luna programme. On 3 February 1966 the Luna 9 spacecraft became the first spacecraft to achieve a soft landing on the Moon. The lander had a mass of . It used a landing bag to survive the impact speed of . It was a hermetically sealed container with radio equipment, a program timing device, heat control systems, scientific apparatus, power sources, and a television system. "Luna 9" was launched
12317342
List of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches


cargo to the ISS, but a secondary payload was stranded in a lower-than-planned orbit), and one failure (the CRS-7 spacecraft was lost in flight). Additionally, one rocket and its payload Amos-6 were destroyed before launch in preparation for an on-pad static fire test. The first rocket version Falcon 9 v1.0 was launched five times from June 2010 to March 2013, its successor Falcon 9 v1.1 15 times from September 2013 to January 2016, and the latest upgrade Falcon 9 Full Thrust 52 times from
9088739
Exploration of Mars


Western media) was the first Soviet unmanned spacecraft interplanetary exploration program, which consisted of two flyby probes launched towards Mars in October 1960, Mars 1960A and Mars 1960B (also known as "Korabl 4" and "Korabl 5" respectively). After launch, the third stage pumps on both launchers were unable to develop enough pressure to commence ignition, so Earth parking orbit was not achieved. The spacecraft reached an altitude of 120 km before reentry. Mars 1962A was a Mars fly-by mission, launched on October 24
1581084
Progress M1-9


Progress M1-9, identified by NASA as Progress 9 or 9P, was a Progress spacecraft used to resupply the International Space Station. It was a Progress-M1 11F615A55 spacecraft, with the serial number 258. Progress M1-9 was launched by a Soyuz-FG carrier rocket from Site 1/5 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Launch occurred at 16:58:24 GMT on 25 September 2002. The spacecraft docked with the Aft port of the "Zvezda" module at 17:00:54 GMT on 29 September. It remained docked for four months before undocking
4719993
List of missions to the outer planets


launch considered an outer planet—respectively. "Cassini–Huygens" also flew past Jupiter for a gravity assist on its mission to explore Saturn. Only three of the missions to the outer planets have been orbiters: "Galileo" orbited Jupiter for eight years, while "Cassini" orbited Saturn for thirteen years. "Juno" has been orbiting Jupiter since 2016. Six spacecraft have been launched to explore Jupiter, with an additional three spacecraft making gravity-assist flybys without the exploration of Jupiter being one of their primary objectives
20489945
Explorer 1


Explorer 1 was the first satellite launched by the United States, and was part of the U.S. participation in the International Geophysical Year. The mission followed the first two satellites the previous year; the Soviet Union's Sputnik 1 and 2, beginning the Cold War Space Race between the two nations. Explorer 1 was launched on January 31, 1958 at 22:48 Eastern Time (February 1, 03:48 UTC) atop the first Juno booster from LC-26 at the Cape Canaveral Missile Annex, Florida. It was the first spacecraft to detect the
15651543
Mariner 9


Mariner 9 (Mariner Mars '71 / Mariner-I) was an unmanned NASA space probe that contributed greatly to the exploration of Mars and was part of the Mariner program. Mariner 9 was launched toward Mars on May 30, 1971 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and reached the planet on November 14 of the same year, becoming the first spacecraft to orbit another planet – only narrowly beating the Soviets' Mars 2 and Mars 3, which both arrived within a month. After months of dust storms it managed to send
16803044
Exploration of Jupiter


Ganymede. As it approached Jupiter, it also witnessed the impact of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9. In December 1995, it sent an atmospheric probe into the Jovian atmosphere, so far the only craft to do so. In July 2016, the "Juno" spacecraft, launched in 2011, completed its orbital insertion maneuver successfully, and is now in orbit around Jupiter with its science programme ongoing. The European Space Agency selected the L1-class JUICE mission in 2012 as part of its Cosmic Vision programme to explore three of Jupiter's
7764961
Space exploration


more about its structure and composition and the "Stardust" mission returned samples of another comet's tail. The "Philae" lander successfully landed on Comet Churyumov–Gerasimenko in 2014 as part of the broader "Rosetta" mission. "Hayabusa" was a robotic spacecraft developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency to return a sample of material from the small near-Earth asteroid 25143 Itokawa to Earth for further analysis. Hayabusa was launched on 9 May 2003 and rendezvoused with Itokawa in mid-September 2005. After arriving at Itokawa
8789070
Explorer 60


A hydrazine orbit adjust system provides the capability to minimize orbit variations to assure adequate mapping by the on-board instrument. The spacecraft had a launch mass of . The base module (six-sided prism) had a height of 65 cm. The overall height of the spacecraft, including antenna, was . Power was provided by two solar panels and batteries. Explorer 60 experienced power problems after May 15, 1979. However, the spacecraft operations continued until November 19, 1981. The signal from the spacecraft was last received
18831088
Europa Clipper


decided that it would be safer to inject a spacecraft into an elliptical orbit around Jupiter and make 45 close flybys of the moon instead. The mission began as a joint investigation between the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Applied Physics Laboratory. The mission will complement ESA's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer launching in 2022, which will fly-by Europa twice and Callisto multiple times before moving into orbit around Ganymede. They may launch within a year of each other, but the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer may have a cruise phase almost three times
16786864
Shenzhou 9


's launch was 49 years to the day after that of the first woman in space, cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova. The Shenzhou 9 spacecraft arrived at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the northwestern Gobi Desert on 9 April 2012 and its carrier rocket, the Long March 2F, arrived on 9 May. On 9 June 2012, the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft and its carrier rocket were rolled out to launch pad. On 12 June 2012 underwent system-wide joint exercises, and final health checks were completed the following day. On June 16, 2012
20674325
Kosmos 167


Kosmos 167 ( meaning "Cosmos 167"), or 4V-1 No.311, was a 1967 Soviet spacecraft intended to explore Venus. A 4V-1 spacecraft launched as part of the Venera programme, Kosmos 167 was intended to land on Venus, but never departed low Earth orbit due to a launch failure. The 4V-1 No.311 spacecraft was the second of two 4V-1 vehicles built and operated by Lavochkin, following Venera 4. A Molniya-M carrier rocket was used to launch 3MV-4 No.6. The launch occurred from Site 1/5 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome
17602636
Explorer 3


. Explorer 3 was launched in conjunction with the International Geophysical Year (IGY) by the U.S. Army (Ordnance) into an eccentric orbit. The objective of this spacecraft was a continuation of experiments started with Explorer 1. The payload consisted of a cosmic ray counter (a Geiger-Müller tube), and a micrometeorite detector (a wire grid array and acoustic detector). The Explorer 3 spacecraft was spin-stabilized and had an on-board tape recorder to provide a complete radiation history for each orbit. It was
16116184
European Venus Explorer


The European Venus Explorer (EVE), known until 2007 as the Venus Entry Probe (VEP), is a proposed European Space Agency space probe to Venus. In the timeline of the 2005 TRS (technology reference study), the spacecraft was proposed to be launched on a Soyuz-2/Fregat launch vehicle around 2013. However, requests to fund and develop the spacecraft in 2007 and 2010 were rejected. EVE was a Medium-Class mission proposal in the Cosmic Vision programme. The mission concept consisted of an orbiter and balloon
4253403
UniBRITE-1


UniBRITE-1 is, along with TUGSAT-1, one of the first two Austrian satellites to be launched. Along with TUGSAT, it operates as part of the BRIght Target Explorer constellation of satellites. The two spacecraft were launched aboard the same rocket, an Indian PSLV-CA, in February 2013. UniBRITE is an optical astronomy spacecraft operated by the University of Vienna as part of the BRIght Target Explorer programme. UniBRITE-1 was manufactured by the Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) of the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS),
9952421
Launch vehicle


hours or days while spacecraft can last decades. Distributed launch involves the accomplishment of a goal with multiple spacecraft and launches. An assembly of modules, such as the International Space Station, can be constructed, or in-space propellant transfer conducted to greatly increase the delta-V capabilities of a given stage. Distributed launch enable space missions that are not possible with single launch architectures. Mission architectures for distributed launch were explored in the 2000s and launch vehicles with integrated distributed launch capability built in began development in 2017 with the BFR
11947300
Orbiting Frog Otolith


spacecraft separated from the launch vehicle, the yo-yo despin subsystem slowed spacecraft rotation. The four booms were then released to extend from the side of the spacecraft. The extension of the booms increased the moment of inertia of the spacecraft, permitting the acceleration level to remain below 10g. The OFO-A mission was launched on November 9, 1970 (06:00 GMT) from Wallops Island launch site. The satellite carrying the OFO-A experiment remained in orbit for almost seven days. Recovery of the spacecraft was not
21311107
Dragon Spacecraft Qualification Unit


The Dragon Spacecraft Qualification Unit was a boilerplate version of the Dragon spacecraft manufactured by SpaceX. After using it for ground tests to rate Dragon's shape and mass in various tests, SpaceX launched it into low Earth orbit on the maiden flight of the Falcon 9 rocket, on June 4, 2010. SpaceX used the launch to evaluate the aerodynamic conditions on the spacecraft and performance of the carrier rocket in a real-world launch scenario, ahead of Dragon flights for NASA under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program. The spacecraft orbited the
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Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer


, 2009. The second attempt launched on time at 14:09:33 UTC (06:09 local PST) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The rocket successfully placed the WISE spacecraft into the planned polar orbit at an altitude of above the Earth. WISE avoided the problem that affected Wide Field Infrared Explorer (WIRE), which failed within hours of reaching orbit in March 1999. In addition, WISE was 1,000 times more sensitive than prior surveys such as IRAS, AKARI, and COBE's DIRBE. A month-long checkout after launch
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Ariane flight VA245


("Mio") was built by ISAS for JAXA. This flight was Airbus's mission, ESA's mission and spacecraft launched by Arianespace, and the latter's deep space mission. The Arianespace launch of took place on at 01:45:28UTC ( 22:45:28 local time) from Ariane Launch Complex No. 3 (ELA 3) in Kourou, French Guiana. The different parts of the spacecraft arrived in French Guiana between April 24 and May 9. Deployment testing of "BepiColombo" MTM 2 solar arrays (which will generate up to
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Explorer 33


Explorer 33 (also known as AIMP-D, IMP-D, AIMP 1, Anchored IMP 1, Interplanetary Monitoring Platform-D) was a spacecraft in the Explorer program launched by NASA on July 1, 1966 on a mission of scientific exploration. Originally intended for a lunar orbit, mission controllers worried that the spacecraft's trajectory was too fast to guarantee lunar capture. Consequently, mission managers opted for a backup plan of placing the craft into an eccentric Earth orbit with a perigee of 265,679 km and an apogee of
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Luna E-6 No.3


Luna E-6 No.3, also identified as No.2 and sometimes by NASA as Luna 1963B, was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1963. It was a Luna E-6 spacecraft, the second of twelve to be launched, and the second consecutive launch failure. It was intended to be the first spacecraft to perform a soft landing on the Moon, a goal which would eventually be accomplished by the final E-6 spacecraft, Luna 9. Luna E-6 No.3 was launched at 09:26:14 UTC on 3 February 1963, atop a
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2012 in spaceflight


The year 2012 saw a number of significant events in spaceflight. In May and October, the first Commercial Orbital Transportation Services resupply missions took place, during which the SpaceX Dragon became the first private spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station (ISS). In June, China launched the manned Shenzhou 9 orbital mission, and North Korea achieved its first successful orbital launch in December. 2012 also saw China's first successful asteroid exploration mission, and the landing of NASA's "Curiosity" rover on Mars. The Vega and
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SpaceX


spacecraft, while SpaceX self-invested more than $500 million to develop the Falcon 9 launch vehicle. These Space Act Agreements have been shown to have saved NASA millions of dollars in development costs, making rocket development ~4-10 times cheaper than if produced by NASA alone. In December 2010, the launch of the COTS Demo Flight 1 mission, SpaceX became the first private company to successfully launch, orbit and recover a spacecraft. Dragon was successfully deployed into orbit, circled the Earth twice, and then made a controlled
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Luna E-6 No.2


Luna E-6 No.2, also identified as No.1, and sometimes known in the West as Sputnik 25, was a Soviet spacecraft which launched in 1963, but was placed into a useless orbit due to a problem with the upper stage of the rocket that launched it. It was a Luna E-6 spacecraft, the first of twelve to be launched. It was intended to be the first spacecraft to perform a soft landing on the Moon, a goal which would eventually be accomplished by the final E-6 spacecraft, Luna 9. Luna E-6
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Venera 2


Venera 2 ( meaning "Venus 2"), also known as 3MV-4 No.4 was a Soviet spacecraft intended to explore Venus. A 3MV-4 spacecraft launched as part of the Venera programme, it failed to return data after flying past Venus. Venera 2 was launched by a Molniya carrier rocket, flying from Site 31/6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The launch occurred at 05:02 UTC on 12 November 1965, with the first three stages placing the spacecraft and Blok-L upper stage into a low Earth parking orbit before the Blok-L
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Discovery and exploration of the Solar System


the Space Age, a great deal of exploration has been performed by robotic spacecraft missions that have been organized and executed by various space agencies. All planets in the Solar System have now been visited to varying degrees by spacecraft launched from Earth. Through these unmanned missions, humans have been able to get close-up photographs of all the planets and, in the case of landers, perform tests of the soils and atmospheres of some. The first artificial object sent into space was the Soviet satellite "Sputnik 1", launched
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Mars 6


Mars 6 (), also known as 3MP No.50P was a Soviet spacecraft launched to explore Mars. A 3MP bus spacecraft launched as part of the Mars programme, it consisted of a lander, and a coast stage with instruments to study Mars as it flew past. The Mars 6 spacecraft carried an array of instruments to study Mars. The lander was equipped with a thermometer and barometer to determine the surface conditions, an accelerometer and radio altimeter for descent, and instruments to analyse the surface material including a mass spectrometer. The
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H-IIA


H-IIA (H2A) is an active expendable launch system operated by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. The liquid-fueled H-IIA rockets have been used to launch satellites into geostationary orbit, to launch a lunar orbiting spacecraft, and to launch "Akatsuki", which studied the planet Venus. Launches occur at the Tanegashima Space Center. The H-IIA first flew in 2001. , H-IIA rockets were launched 37 times, including 31 consecutive missions without a failure,
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Falcon 9 v1.1


. This last goal was achieved on the first flight of the successor variant Falcon 9 Full Thrust, after several close calls with Falcon 9 v1.1. The Falcon 9 v1.1 is a two-stage, LOX/RP-1–powered launch vehicle. The original Falcon 9 flew five successful orbital launches in 2010–2013, all carrying the Dragon spacecraft or a test version of the spacecraft. The Falcon 9 v1.1 ELV is a 60 percent heavier rocket with 60 percent more thrust than the v1.0 version of the Falcon 9. It includes realigned first-stage
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ISEE-1


The International Sun-Earth Explorer 1 (ISEE-1, or Explorer 56) was a 340-kg space probe used to study magnetic fields near the Earth. ISEE-1 was a spin-stabilized spacecraft and based on the design of the prior IMP (Interplanetary Monitoring Platform) series of spacecraft. ISEE-1 and ISEE-2 were launched on October 22, 1977, and they re-entered on September 26, 1987. The space probe was part of a program consisting of three spacecraft: a mother/daughter pair (ISEE-1 and ISEE-2) and the
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Falcon 9 v1.0


procurement—at based on a NASA environment/culture, or using a more commercial approach. In December 2010, the SpaceX production line was manufacturing one new Falcon 9 (and Dragon spacecraft) every three months, with a plan to double the production rate to one every six weeks in 2012. The v1.0 version of Falcon 9 was launched five times, all successfully carrying a Dragon spacecraft to low-Earth orbit, of which three achieved docking with the International Space Station. One of those missions deployed its secondary payload in
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Shin'en (spacecraft)


-SAT2, K-Sat and Negai ☆ were also launched, however they separated from the rocket whilst it was still orbiting the Earth. "Shin'en" was the last spacecraft to separate from the rocket. The launch was conducted by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries on behalf of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. The H-IIA rocket was rolled out to the launch pad on 16 May 2010, departing the assembly building at 21:01 UTC and arriving at the launch pad 24 minutes later at 21:25 UTC, in preparation for a launch scheduled
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Mars 5


Mars 5 (), also known as 3MS No.53S was a Soviet spacecraft launched to explore Mars. A 3MS spacecraft launched as part of the Mars programme, it successfully entered orbit around Mars in 1974. However, it failed a few weeks later. The Mars 5 spacecraft carried an array of instruments to study Mars. In addition to cameras, it was equipped with a radio telescope, an IR radiometer, multiple photometers, polarimeters, a magnetometer, plasma traps, an electrostatic analyser, a gamma-ray spectrometer, and
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Constellation program


described above, using an Ares V to launch the landing module into Low Earth orbit, followed by the launch of an Orion spacecraft, with a two- or three-person crew (as opposed to a four-person crew for lunar missions) on an Ares I rocket. Once the Orion spacecraft docked with the landing module and the Earth Departure Stage (EDS), the EDS would then fire again and propel the Orion spacecraft to a nearby near-Earth asteroid where the crew would then land and explore its surface.
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Advanced Composition Explorer


, formed in regions where many supernovae explode within a few million years. Recent observations of a cocoon of freshly accelerated cosmic rays in the Cygnus superbubble by the Fermi gamma-ray observatory support this theory. On February 11, 2015, the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR)—with several similar instruments including a newer and more sensitive instrument to detect Earth-bound coronal mass ejections—successfully launched by NOAA and NASA aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The spacecraft arrived at L by June 8, 2015
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Chang'e 4


. The Chinese Lunar Exploration Program has started to incorporate private investment from individuals and enterprises for the first time, a move aimed at accelerating aerospace innovation, cutting production costs, and promoting militarycivilian relationships. The Chang'e 4 mission was first scheduled for launch in 2015 as part of the second phase of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program. But the adjusted objectives and design of the mission imposed delays, and finally launched on 7 December 2018, 18:23 UTC. The spacecraft entered lunar orbit on 12 December 2018, 08:45 UTC. The orbit
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Explorer 15


Explorer 15, also called EPE-C, was an American satellite launched as part of the Explorers program. Explorer 15 was launched on October 27, at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, United States, with a Delta rocket. Explorer 15 was a spin-stabilized, solar cell-powered spacecraft instrumented to study the artificial radiation belt produced by the Starfish high-altitude nuclear burst of July 1962. The backup payload for Explorer 14 was modified and used for Explorer 15. The instrumentation included three sets of particle
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Hayato (satellite)


Hayato, known before launch as KSAT, or the Kagoshima Satellite, is a Japanese satellite which was launched in May 2010. It is a student-built spacecraft, which is operated by Kagoshima University, and is being used for technology demonstration and remote sensing. The satellite is a single unit CubeSat, and carries equipment to study water vapour in the Earth's atmosphere, microwave imagery and spacecraft communication. The launch was conducted by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries under contract to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. In preparation for a planned launch
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Shenzhou 9


Shenzhou 9 () was the fourth crewed spacecraft flight of China's Shenzhou program, launched at 18:37:24 CST (10:37:24 UTC), 16 June 2012. "Shenzhou 9" was the second spacecraft and first crewed spacecraft to dock with the Tiangong 1 space station, which took place on 18 June. The Shenzhou 9 spacecraft landed at 10:01:16 CST (02:01:16 UTC) on 29 June in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The mission's crew included the first Chinese female astronaut, Liu Yang. The next mission was "Shenzhou 10"
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Explorer 2


Explorer 2 was to be a repeat of the Explorer 1 mission. However, due to a failure in the rocket during launch, the spacecraft did not reach orbit. Explorer 2 was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station LC-26A in Florida on March 5, 1958 at 18:28 UTC, by a Juno-I launch vehicle. The Juno-I had its origins in the United States Army's Project Orbiter in 1954. The project was canceled in 1955, when the decision was made to proceed with Project Vanguard. Following the
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Launch escape system


2015. SpaceX will next test the system during ascent of the Falcon 9 rocket in Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 from where it plans to launch crews to the International Space Station. The second crewed spacecraft selected by NASA for its CCDEV program was Boeing's CST-100 Starliner, which like SpaceX's Dragon 2 spacecraft, will use a "pusher" launch escape system, consisting of four launch abort engines mounted on the service module that can propel the spacecraft away from its Atlas 5 launch vehicle in the event of an emergency on
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Cislunar Explorers


Cislunar Explorers is a pair of spacecraft that will show the viability of water electrolysis propulsion and interplanetary optical navigation to orbit the Moon. Both spacecraft will launch mated together as two L-shaped 3-Unit CubeSats, which fit together as a 6-Unit CubeSat of about 10×20×30 cm. The technology demonstrator spacecraft pair is being developed at Cornell University in New York, by a team of researchers, graduate students, and undergraduates. It will be one of thirteen CubeSats to be carried with the Orion EM-1 mission into a heliocentric orbit in cislunar space
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Luna E-6 No.6


Luna E-6 No.6, sometimes identified by NASA as Luna 1964A, was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1964. It was a Luna E-6 spacecraft, the fourth of twelve to be launched, It was intended to be the first spacecraft to perform a soft landing on the Moon, a goal which would eventually be accomplished by the final E-6 spacecraft, Luna 9. Luna E-6 No.6 was launched at 08:15:35 UTC on 21 March 1964, atop a Molniya-M 8K78M carrier rocket, flying from Site
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Luna E-6 No.5


Luna E-6 No.5, sometimes identified by NASA as Luna 1964B, was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1964. It was a Luna E-6 spacecraft, the fifth of twelve to be launched, It was intended to be the first spacecraft to perform a soft landing on the Moon, a goal which would eventually be accomplished by the final E-6 spacecraft, Luna 9. Luna E-6 No.5 was launched at 08:08:28 UTC on 20 April 1964, atop a Molniya-M 8K78M carrier rocket, flying from Site
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Luna E-6 No.8


Luna E-6 No.8, sometimes identified by NASA as Luna 1965A, was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1965. It was a Luna E-6 spacecraft, the seventh of twelve to be launched, It was intended to be the first spacecraft to perform a soft landing on the Moon, a goal which would eventually be accomplished by the final E-6 spacecraft, Luna 9. Luna E-6 No.8 was launched on 10 April 1965, atop a Molniya-L 8K78L carrier rocket, flying from Site 1/5 at the Baikonur
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Advanced Composition Explorer


Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) is a NASA Explorers program Solar and space exploration mission to study matter comprising energetic particles from the solar wind, the interplanetary medium, and other sources. Real-time data from ACE is used by the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center to improve forecasts and warnings of solar storms. The ACE robotic spacecraft was launched August 25, 1997, and entered a Lissajous orbit close to the Lagrangian point (which lies between the Sun and the Earth at a distance of some 1.5 million km from the latter
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Solar Terrestrial Probes program


ongoing collaboration with JAXA, is a mission to explore the magnetic fields of the Sun. It was launched on the final flight of the M-V-7 rocket from Uchinoura Space Center, Japan on September 22, 2006. STEREO (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory) is a solar observation mission. It consists in two nearly identical spacecraft, launched on October 26, 2006. The Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS) is a mission to study the Earth's magnetosphere, using four identical spacecraft flying in a tetrahedral formation. The spacecraft were
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Artemis 2


Artemis 2 (originally known as Exploration Mission-2 or EM-2 until the introduction of the Artemis program in 2019, when it was renamed) is the planned first crewed mission of NASA's Orion spacecraft to be launched by the Space Launch System in 2023. Originally, the crewed mission was intended to collect samples from a captured asteroid in lunar orbit by the now cancelled robotic Asteroid Redirect Mission. The current plan is for a crewed Orion spacecraft to perform a lunar flyby test and return to Earth. This will be the first crewed spacecraft
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List of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches


Since June 2010, rockets from the Falcon 9 family have been launched 76 times, with 74 full mission successes, one partial failure and one total loss of spacecraft. In addition, one rocket and its payload were destroyed on the launch pad in the fueling process before a static fire test. Designed and operated by private manufacturer SpaceX, the Falcon 9 rocket family includes the retired versions Falcon 9 v1.0, v1.1, and v1.2 "Full Thrust", along with the currently active Block 5 evolution. Falcon Heavy is a heavy
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Falcon 9 v1.1


variants Falcon 9 Full Thrust and Falcon Heavy. , the Falcon 9 v1.1 commercial launch price was (up from in October 2013) competing for commercial launches in an increasingly competitive market. NASA resupply missions to the ISS—which include the provision of the space capsule payload, a new Dragon cargo spacecraft for each flight—have an average price of $133 million. The first twelve cargo transport flights contracted to NASA were done at one time, so no price change is reflected for the v1.1 launches as opposed to the v1.0
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Kvant-1


) – carrying propulsion and electrical systems – to act as a space tug. The FSM was derived from the TKS spacecraft, which would later form the basis for the Functional Cargo Block of the Kvant-2, Kristall, Spektr, and Priroda modules. Kvant-1 and its FSM were launched on March 30, 1987 – at the time of the launch the Mir station was manned by the EO-2 crew, which had already docked on the front port with the Soyuz TM-2 spacecraft. On April 9, Kvant-1 achieved a soft dock with the
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Solar Mesosphere Explorer


The Solar Mesosphere Explorer (also known as Explorer 64) was a United States unmanned spacecraft to investigate the processes that create and destroy ozone in Earth's upper atmosphere. The mesosphere is a layer of the atmosphere extending from the top of the stratosphere to an altitude of about . The spacecraft carried five instruments to measure ozone, water vapor and incoming solar radiation. Launched on October 6, 1981, on a Delta rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, in California, the satellite returned data until April 4, 1989. The
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Fast Auroral Snapshot Explorer


The Fast Auroral Snapshot Explorer (FAST) is a NASA plasma physics satellite, and is the second spacecraft in the Small Explorer program. It was launched on August 21, 1996, from Vandenberg Air Force Base aboard a Pegasus XL rocket. The spacecraft was designed and built by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Flight operations were handled by Goddard for the first three years, and thereafter were transferred to the University of California, Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory. FAST was designed to observe and measure the plasma physics of the
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Observations and explorations of Venus


. The first time, it flew by on October 24, 2006, passing 3000 km from Venus. As Earth was on the other side of the Sun, no data was recorded. The second flyby was on July 6, 2007, where the spacecraft passed only 325 km from the cloudtops. The "Venera-D" spacecraft was proposed to Roscosmos in 2003 and the concept has been matured since then. It would be launched in the late 2020s and its prime purpose is to map Venus's surface using a powerful
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TMK


TMK ( - "Tyazhely Mezhplanetny Korabl" or "Heavy Interplanetary Spacecraft") was the designation of a Soviet space exploration project to send a crewed flight to Mars and Venus (TMK-MAVR design) without landing. The TMK-1 spacecraft was due to be launched in 1971 and make a three-year-long flight including a Mars flyby, at which time probes would have been dropped. Expanded project variations, such as the TMK-E, Mavr or KK, including a Venus flyby, electric propulsion or a crewed
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