Space FAQs (Space)

1. Introduction 2. Space Today

3. Planetary Missions

1. Introduction

When Did the Space Age Begin?
On October 4th, 1957, when the first ever manmade satellite reached orbit. It were the Russians, at the time of the former USSR, which performed this first satellite flight, with this spacecraft named "Sputnik", which means "traveler" in Russian

What's the NASA?
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the agency in charge of the space flights and the space assets of the USA. It was created on October 1st, 1958

What is the JPL?
The JPL (for "Jet Propulsion Laboratory"), is operated for NASA under contract by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The JPL is one of NASA's field centers where the agency's policy translates into reality. The JPL manages most of NASA's deep space missions. It manages too NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN) that is the network, worlwide, of deep space antennas serving to the communications with the planetary missions

What's Better to Say? Cape Kennedy or Cape Canaveral?
Cape Canaveral is a geographical feature along the eastern coast of Florida. The U.S. Air Force settled there in 1949 in replacement of the White Sand Testing Range. The NASA, when created in 1959, settled on Merritt Island, West of the Air Force. A 1963 agreement shared the Cape Canaveral area into the NASA and the Air Force, which retained the seashore area. In 1963 too, in a hommage to the assassinated president, the Cape Canaveral -the geographic feature- became "Cape Kennedy", but the name eventually came back to "Cape Canaveral" in 1973. Nowadays, the launch area is still divided between the NASA and the U.S. Air Force. The NASA's part is now named the "Kennedy Space Center" (KSC) as it already was paying such this tribute before under the name of the "John F. Kennedy Space Center". The Kennedy Space Center is mainly used for the Shuttle's launches and landings. The Air Force's part, as far as it is concerned, is mainly composed of the "Cape Canaveral Air Force Station" (CCAFS), with its launch pads along the coast. The Air Force's CCAFS is serving for unmanned, NASA, government, or army launches. So, strictly, KSC and CCAFS, and Cape Canaveral for the geographical area!

Who Was the First Man in Space?
Yuri Gagarin, a Russian, in April 1961. The first American was John Glenn (February 20th, 1962) after two surborbital flights were performed by Alan Shepard and Virgil Grissom in May and July 1961 respectively

Who Was the First Woman in Space?
Valentina Tereshkova, a Russian, in 1963 aboard a Vostok. Such a flight is part of the space premieres that the USSR performed by the end of the 1950s and the beginning of the 1960s

2. Space Today

How Many Countries are Able to Operate Satellites Today?
28 countries and 7 organizations are officially able to operate satellites. Satellites in Earth orbit are mainly used for communications, defense, weather, navigation, and Earth and astronomical observations. About 6 countries or regional organizations have the technology today to access space, namely the USA, Russia, Japan, China, Europe, and India

How Many Satellites are Orbiting Today?
Since the beginning of the space age more than 4,800 Earth satellites have been launched. 2,300 are still orbiting today. 1,300 are Russians, 700 Americans. 8,800 diverse debris are orbiting along with them and most are monitored to avoid any possible damage

Does All the US Launches Take Place at the Kennedy Space Center?
No. The Kennedy Space Center (KSC) is now managing the Shuttle flights and landings only (after it had managed the Apollo program). The other, unmanned, civilian or military, US programs launch either from the "Cape Canaveral Air Force Station" (CCAFS), neighbour to the KSC, or from the Vandenberg AFB, Calif., 150 miles northwest of Los Angeles, both of which are U.S. Air Force assets. The Vandenberg launch pads are used for polar orbiting satellites only -with the area opening southwest to the Pacific Ocean- as the base serves too as an intensive missile test range

What is the Difference Between an Astronaut and a Cosmonaut?
None! Both terms apply to the people performing a space flight. The term "astronaut" is used in the USA, as "cosmonaut" was used in the former-USSR and still is in Russia. Europeans, as far as they are concerned, are using the term "spationaut", as China, which lately came into the space flight is using a term of its own too, "taikonaut", which is the westernized form of the Chinese "yuhangyuan"

Is Space Worth the Dollar?
In Earth orbit certainly. Communications and weather forecasts are greatly eased from space, not to mention the GPS system which is space-based, or the monitoring of the solar weather. The low Earth orbit, on the other hand is agressively targeted by most nations as a new battlefield and has to be part of any country's defense preoccupations. That is that the battlefield at the Earth's surface is benefiting of the pluses that the space vantage point is allowing, and that space might become a battlefield itself, with anti-missiles programs or satellite-destroying devices. As far as the planetary missions are concerned, they are not as much strategic. Their main target, until now, is to make science in the solar system. The same for the astronomical searches and observations performed from the Earth orbit, like those performed by Hubble

What China or Iran are Aiming At with A Space Program?
Recent moves by China, Iran -or even North Korea- are hinting to that such more or less rogue countries are aiming to a agressive space stance, with manned programs or even aiming to the Moon. First thing, first, all of those countries are supported, as far as their space program is concerned, by Russia. Then, all of those countries are mostly doing a link between any of their moves into space and their military programs. Most of those are aiming to transform the low-Earth orbit into a battlefield in itself, with, for example, China developing an ability to destroy ennemy satellites on the orbit, or Iran openly admitting to that it's developing its space capacity like the mean to defend themselves against the U.S.A. supremacy as shown when the U.S. military conquered Iraq. Those countries -especially North Korea and Iran- further are at odds with the international community about their ballistic programs directed to threaten their neighbours, or Israel, as any space program is of course increasing that ballistic capability. China, at last, is officially politicizing their space program as they are posing to the power which is offering to help the poorer nations into space

What is the International Space Station (ISS)?
It's an old idea of space station made young, since its inception in 1998, by a 16 nations partnership (USA, Canada, 11 countries from the European Union, Japan, Russia, Brazil). The International Space Station is intended to provide six laboratories where space experiments may be conducted, with a total internal space of the equivalent of a Boeing 747 passenger cabin. The ISS has got some renewed vigor lately as it's part of the new U.S. "Vision for Space Exploration". The ISS is to provide experience pertinent to long duration space flights. The construction of the ISS is expected to be over in 2010. It was recently interrupted due to the dramatic loss of shuttle Columbia in February 2003, which halted the Shuttle flights

What is the U.S. "Vision for Space Exploration"?
It's the new program set to NASA by president Bush in January 2004. As the Shuttle is to be retired in 2010, a new manned vehicle dubbed "Crew Exploration Vehicle" will be developped by 2008 and fly no later than 2014. Its main goal will be to be NASA new exploration vehicle. Such a renewed fleet will serve to be back at Moon in 2015 and no later than 2020, living and working there for extended periods of time, as this new Moon conquest will serve as an outpost from where the human exploration of Mars and beyond will be performed

3. Planetary Missions

What Planet Was Most Targeted by Space Missions?
Venus. Then Mars. The outer planets, like Jupiter or Saturn, are far behind. Our Moon, on the other hand, though, strictly, not a planet but a moon instead, was the most visited body outside Earth

When Did The Apollo Landing at Moon Take Place?
The Apollo 11 mission landed at Moon on July 20th, 1969 at 4:18 p.m. EDT as Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon this same day at 10:56 p.m., saying: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind"

Is There Any Life at Mars?
No one knows for sure now. Outside the late, and famed story of the Martian meteorite which could harbour a fossilized Martian bacteria, the question of life at Mars was investigated from 1976 to 1978 by NASA's Viking 1 and 2 landers. No clear evidence of life was found, although unexpected and enigmatic chemical activity was found. Mars was always considered the best match for a life-hospitable place in the solar system. The question of life at Mars is always pending and still agressively searched, as it's now related to the presence of water. Europa, one icy moon of Jupiter is another place in the solar system where life is expected to be found

What is a Flyby?
In the acceptance of a "gravitational flyby", a flyby is a planetary mission using the gravitational force of a planet of the inner or outer solar system, like Venus or Jupiter respectively, to gain momentum and/or to alter direction. It's a way to seemingly make long by making actually shorter. Generally, on the other hand, a "flyby" is any passage at a planet or a moon performed by a spacecraft in the purpose of making science and imaging there, the craft flybying on an interplanetary trajectory or on a planetary one, like, say, the current Cassini mission at Saturn

What Are These Spacecraft Heading Outside the Solar System?
They are currently 4 spacecraft heading outside of our solar system. Pioneer 10 and 11, and Voyager 1 and 2. The Pioneer missions were the first missions NASA sent to Jupiter and Saturn. They worked between 1972 and 1979. Both had been conceived to fly past their primary objectives, star bound. Although the Pioneers now are mute and don't make science anymore (they were tracked by the Deep Space Network until 1997 and 2003 respectively only), they are now heading to the outside of the solar system. Pioneer 10 is 7.8 billion miles away. Voyager 1 and 2, on the other hand, were missions to Jupiter and Saturn by the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s, as their mission was eventually extended into a comprehensive tour of the gas giants, then into a star-bound journey. At the difference of the Pioneers, the Voyagers are still active and are making science, particularly at the outer boundary of the "heliosphere", the solar system domain in space. Their work should continue during two or three decades as communications with them will be maintained until their radioisotope power generators stop working. Voyager 1 is 8.7 billion miles away, travelling at an angle of 35° to the ecliptic, as Voyager 2 is journeying at minus 48° under, at 6.7 billion miles away. All four missions are carrying messages from Earth to the outer space. Pioneer 10 will reach Aldebaran, main star to constellation of Taurus, the Bull in 2 million years from now