1.
Baikonur Cosmodrome
–
Baikonur Cosmodrome is a spaceport located in southern Kazakhstan. It is the worlds first and largest operational space launch facility, the spaceport is located in the desert steppe of Baikonur, about 200 kilometres east of the Aral Sea and north of the river Syr Darya. It is near the Tyuratam railway station and is about 90 metres above sea level, currently leased by the Kazakh Government to Russia until 2050, the spaceport is managed jointly by the Roscosmos State Corporation and the Russian Aerospace Forces. The shape of the area leased is an ellipse, measuring 90 kilometres east–west by 85 kilometres north–south, with the cosmodrome at the centre and it was originally built by the Soviet Union in the late 1950s as the base of operations for the Soviet space program. Under the current Russian space program, Baikonur remains a busy spaceport, with commercial, military. All manned Russian spaceflights are launched from Baikonur, both Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, and Vostok 1, the first manned spaceflight, were launched from Baikonur. The launch pad used for missions was renamed Gagarins Start in honor of Russian Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, pilot of Vostok 1. The Soviet government issued the decree for Scientific Research Test Range No.5 on 12 February 1955 and it was actually founded on 2 June 1955, originally a test center for the worlds first intercontinental ballistic missile, the R-7 Semyorka. NIIP-5 was soon expanded to include facilities for space flights. The site was selected by a led by Gen. Vasily Voznyuk, influenced by Sergey Korolyov, the Chief Designer of the R-7 ICBM. It had to be surrounded by plains, as the control system of the rocket required receiving uninterrupted signals from ground stations hundreds of kilometres away. Additionally, the trajectory had to be away from populated areas. Also, it is an advantage to place a space launch site closer to the equator, taking these constraints into consideration, the commission chose Tyuratam, a village in the heart of the Kazakh Steppe. A supporting town was built around the facility to provide housing, schools and it was raised to city status in 1966 and named Leninsk. The American U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance plane found and photographed the Tyuratam missile test range for the first time on 5 August 1957, there are conflicting sources about origins of the name Baikonur. Other sources state that Baikonur was name of the Tyuratam region even before the cosmodrome existed, the main cosmodrome-supporting town Leninsk was renamed to Baikonur on 20 December 1995 by Boris Yeltsin. In 1997, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation changed the path and removed the ejected rocket stages near Nyurbinsky District. Scientific literature collected enough data that confirmed adverse effects of rockets on environment, heptyl, or UDMH, a fuel used in Russian rocket engines, is considered to be highly toxic
Baikonur Cosmodrome
–
Baikonur Cosmodrome's "
Gagarin's Start "
Soyuz launch pad prior to the rollout of
Soyuz TMA-13, October 10, 2008
Baikonur Cosmodrome
–
A Soyuz rocket is erected into position at the Baikonur Cosmodrome's
Pad 1/5 (Gagarin's Start) on 24 March 2009. The rocket launched the crew of
Expedition 19 and a spaceflight participant on 26 March 2009.
Baikonur Cosmodrome
–
Soyuz TMA-16 launch vehicle being transported to launchpad at Baikonur.
2.
Spacecraft
–
A spacecraft is a vehicle, or machine designed to fly in outer space. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, planetary exploration, on a sub-orbital spaceflight, a spacecraft enters space and then returns to the surface, without having gone into an orbit. For orbital spaceflights, spacecraft enter closed orbits around the Earth or around other celestial bodies, robotic spacecraft used to support scientific research are space probes. Robotic spacecraft that remain in orbit around a body are artificial satellites. Only a handful of interstellar probes, such as Pioneer 10 and 11, Voyager 1 and 2, orbital spacecraft may be recoverable or not. By method of reentry to Earth they may be divided in non-winged space capsules, Sputnik 1 was the first artificial satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957, the launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments, while the Sputnik launch was a single event, it marked the start of the Space Age. Apart from its value as a technological first, Sputnik 1 also helped to identify the upper atmospheric layers density and it also provided data on radio-signal distribution in the ionosphere. Pressurized nitrogen in the satellites false body provided the first opportunity for meteoroid detection, Sputnik 1 was launched during the International Geophysical Year from Site No. 1/5, at the 5th Tyuratam range, in Kazakh SSR. The satellite travelled at 29,000 kilometers per hour, taking 96.2 minutes to complete an orbit and this altitude is called the Kármán line. In particular, in the 1940s there were several test launches of the V-2 rocket, as of 2016, only three nations have flown manned spacecraft, USSR/Russia, USA, and China. The first manned spacecraft was Vostok 1, which carried Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into space in 1961, there were five other manned missions which used a Vostok spacecraft. The second manned spacecraft was named Freedom 7, and it performed a sub-orbital spaceflight in 1961 carrying American astronaut Alan Shepard to an altitude of just over 187 kilometers, there were five other manned missions using Mercury spacecraft. Other Soviet manned spacecraft include the Voskhod, Soyuz, flown unmanned as Zond/L1, L3, TKS, China developed, but did not fly Shuguang, and is currently using Shenzhou. Except for the shuttle, all of the recoverable manned orbital spacecraft were space capsules. Manned space capsules The International Space Station, manned since November 2000, is a joint venture between Russia, the United States, Canada and several other countries, some reusable vehicles have been designed only for manned spaceflight, and these are often called spaceplanes. The first example of such was the North American X-15 spaceplane, the first reusable spacecraft, the X-15, was air-launched on a suborbital trajectory on July 19,1963. The first partially reusable spacecraft, a winged non-capsule, the Space Shuttle, was launched by the USA on the 20th anniversary of Yuri Gagarins flight
Spacecraft
–
More than 100 Russian
Soyuz manned spacecraft (TMA version shown) have flown since 1967, originally for a
Soviet manned lunar program, but currently supporting the
International Space Station.
Spacecraft
–
The US
Space Shuttle flew 135 times from 1981 to 2011, supporting Spacelab, Mir, and ISS. (Columbia's first launch shown)
Spacecraft
–
The first artificial satellite, Sputnik
Spacecraft
–
The first manned spacecraft,
Vostok 1
3.
Orbital spaceflight
–
An orbital spaceflight is a spaceflight in which a spacecraft is placed on a trajectory where it could remain in space for at least one orbit. To do this around the Earth, it must be on a trajectory which has an altitude at perigee above 100 kilometers, this is, by at least one convention. To remain in orbit at this altitude requires a speed of ~7.8 km/s. Orbital speed is slower for higher orbits, but attaining them requires greater delta-v, the expression orbital spaceflight is mostly used to distinguish from sub-orbital spaceflights, which are flights where the apogee of a spacecraft reaches space, but the perigee is too low. Orbital spaceflight from Earth has only achieved by launch vehicles that use rocket engines for propulsion. To reach orbit, the rocket must impart to the payload a delta-v of about 9. 3–10 km/s and this figure is mainly for horizontal acceleration needed to reach orbital speed, but allows for atmospheric drag, gravity losses, and gaining altitude. Currently, 2-4 stages are needed to achieve the required delta-v, most launches are by expendable launch systems. The Pegasus rocket for small satellites instead launches from an aircraft at an altitude of 12 km, there have been many proposed methods for achieving orbital spaceflight that have the potential of being much more affordable than rockets. Some of these such as the space elevator, and rotovator. Gun launch has been proposed for cargo, an object in orbit at an altitude of less than roughly 200 km is considered unstable due to atmospheric drag. For a satellite to be in an orbit,350 km is a more standard altitude for low Earth orbit. For example, on 1958-02-01 the Explorer 1 satellite was launched into an orbit with a perigee of 358 kilometers and it remained in orbit for more than 12 years before its atmospheric reentry over the Pacific Ocean on 1970-03-31. However, the behaviour of objects in orbit depends on altitude, their ballistic coefficient. There are three bands of orbit around the Earth, low Earth orbit, medium Earth orbit. Due to Orbital mechanics orbits are in a particular, largely fixed plane around the Earth, which coincides with the center of the Earth, NASA provides real-time tracking of the over 500 artificial satellites maintained in orbit around Earth. For the position of these satellites see NASA satellite tracking, in spaceflight, an orbital maneuver is the use of propulsion systems to change the orbit of a spacecraft. For spacecraft far from Earth—for example those in orbits around the Sun—an orbital maneuver is called a deep-space maneuver, returning spacecraft have to find a way of slowing down as much as possible while still in higher atmospheric layers and avoid hitting the ground or burning up. For many orbital space flights, initial deceleration is provided by the retrofiring of the rocket engines
Orbital spaceflight
–
The
International Space Station during its construction in
Earth orbit in 2001. It must be periodically re-boosted to maintain its orbit
Orbital spaceflight
–
Space Shuttle Discovery rockets to orbital velocity, seen here just after booster separation
Orbital spaceflight
–
General
4.
Sub-orbital spaceflight
–
For example, the path of an object launched from Earth that reaches 100 km above sea level, and then falls back to Earth, is considered a sub-orbital spaceflight. Some sub-orbital flights have been undertaken to test spacecraft and launch vehicles later intended for orbital spaceflight, other vehicles are specifically designed only for sub-orbital flight, examples include manned vehicles such as the X-15 and SpaceShipOne, and unmanned ones such as ICBMs and sounding rockets. Flights which attain sufficient velocity to go into low Earth orbit, examples of this include Yuri Gagarins Vostok 1, and flights of the Fractional Orbital Bombardment System. Usually a rocket is used, but experimental sub-orbital spaceflight has also achieved with a space gun. By one definition a sub-orbital spaceflight reaches a higher than 100 km above sea level. The US military and NASA award astronaut wings to those flying above 50 mi, during freefall the trajectory is part of an elliptic orbit as given by the orbit equation. The perigee distance is less than the radius of the Earth R including atmosphere, hence the ellipse intersects the Earth, the major axis is vertical, the semi-major axis a is more than R/2. The specific orbital energy ϵ is given by, ε = − μ2 a > − μ R where μ is the standard gravitational parameter, to minimize the required delta-v, the high-altitude part of the flight is made with the rockets off. The maximum speed in a flight is attained at the lowest altitude of this free-fall trajectory, if ones goal is simply to reach space, for example in competing for the Ansari X Prize, horizontal motion is not needed. In this case the lowest required delta-v, to reach 100 km altitude, is about 1.4 km/s, for sub-orbital spaceflights covering a horizontal distance the maximum speed and required delta-v are in between those of a vertical flight and a LEO. The maximum speed at the ends of the trajectory are now composed of a horizontal. The higher the horizontal distance covered, the greater both speeds will be, for the V-2 rocket, just reaching space but with a range of about 330 km, the maximum speed was 1.6 km/s. Scaled Composites SpaceShipTwo which is under development will have a similar free-fall orbit, for larger ranges, due to the elliptic orbit the maximum altitude can even be considerably more than for a LEO. It should be noted that any spaceflight that returns to the surface, including sub-orbital ones, the speed at the start of the reentry is basically the maximum speed of the flight. The aerodynamic heating caused will vary accordingly, it is less for a flight with a maximum speed of only 1 km/s than for one with a maximum speed of 7 or 8 km/s. Let θ be half the angle that the projectile is to go around the earth, the minimum-delta-v trajectory corresponds to an ellipse with one focus at the centre of the earth and the other at the point halfway between the launch point and the destination point. Longer ranges will have lower apogees in the minimal-delta-v solution and we see that the Δv increases with range, leveling off at 7.9 km/s as the range approaches 20000 km. The minimum-delta-v trajectory for going halfway around the world corresponds to a circular orbit just above the surface, see lower for the time of flight
Sub-orbital spaceflight
–
The X-15 (1958–68) would lift itself to an altitude of approximately 100 km and then glide down.
Sub-orbital spaceflight
–
Isaac Newton's Cannonball. Paths A and B depict a sub-orbital trajectory.
Sub-orbital spaceflight
–
General
5.
Space station
–
A space station is distinguished from other spacecraft used for human spaceflight by lack of major propulsion or landing systems. Instead, other vehicles transport people and cargo to and from the station, as of September 2016 three space stations are in orbit, the International Space Station, which is permanently manned, Chinas Tiangong-1 and Tiangong-2. Previous stations include the Almaz and Salyut series, Skylab, each crew member stays aboard the station for weeks or months, but rarely more than a year. Since the ill-fated flight of Soyuz 11 to Salyut 1, all manned spaceflight duration records have been set aboard space stations, the duration record for a single spaceflight is 437.7 days, set by Valeriy Polyakov aboard Mir from 1994 to 1995. As of 2016, four cosmonauts have completed single missions of over a year, Space stations have also been used for both military and civilian purposes. The last military-use space station was Salyut 5, which was used by the Almaz program of the Soviet Union in 1976 and 1977, Space stations have been envisaged since at least as early as 1869 when Edward Everett Hale wrote The Brick Moon. The first to give consideration to space stations were Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in the early 20th century. In 1929 Herman Potočniks The Problem of Space Travel was published, during the Second World War, German scientists researched the theoretical concept of an orbital weapon based on a space station. During the same time as von Braun pursued Potočniks ideas, the Soviet design bureaus – chiefly Vladimir Chelomeys OKB-52 – were pursuing Tsiolkovskys ideas for space stations, the work by OKB-52 would lead to the Almaz programme and to the first space station, Salyut 1. The developed hardware laid the ground for the Salyut and Mir space stations, the first space station was Salyut 1, which was launched by the Soviet Union on April 19,1971. Like all the space stations, it was monolithic, intended to be constructed and launched in one piece. As such, monolithic stations generally contained all their supplies and experimental equipment when launched, and were considered expended, and then abandoned, the earlier Soviet stations were all designated Salyut, but among these there were two distinct types, civilian and military. The military stations, Salyut 2, Salyut 3, and Salyut 5, were known as Almaz stations. This allowed for a crew to man the station continually, Skylab was also equipped with two docking ports, like second-generation stations, but the extra port was never utilized. The presence of a port on the new stations allowed Progress supply vehicles to be docked to the station. This concept was expanded on Salyut 7, which docked with a TKS tug shortly before it was abandoned. The later Salyuts may reasonably be seen as a transition between the two groups, unlike previous stations, the Soviet space station Mir had a modular design, a core unit was launched, and additional modules, generally with a specific role, were later added to that. This method allows for flexibility in operation, as well as removing the need for a single immensely powerful launch vehicle
Space station
–
The modular
International Space Station
Space station
–
Owen Garriott on EVA in 1973
Space station
–
Earth and the Mir station
Space station
–
ISS under construction
6.
Launch pad
–
A launch pad is an above-ground platform from which a rocket-powered missile or space vehicle is vertically launched. A spaceport is a facility which includes, and provides required support for, the service structure also provides access to the crew cabin for vehicles carrying humans. The pad may also be protected by lightning arrestors, cryogenic propellants need to be continuously topped off during the launch sequence, as the vehicle awaits liftoff. This becomes particularly important as complex sequences may be interrupted by planned or unplanned holds to fix problems, most rockets need stable support for a few seconds after ignition while the engines build up to stable, full thrust. There are several different types of site, determined by the means by which the space vehicle gets to the pad. The first large rocket, the V-2, travelled horizontally with its forward to the launch site at Peenemünde. This method was used for all large Soviet rockets, including the N1, hence no surface pad is used, Russian silos are reusable. This method was used for the Cosmos series of small satellite launching vehicles. The MLP is then carried by a Crawler-transporter, which drives to one of two pads at Launch Complex 39 at the Kennedy Space Center. This facility was used for the smaller Apollo/Saturn IB. A similar system is used to launch Ariane 5 rockets at ELA-3 at Guiana Space Centre and this system is still in use for the Atlas V. This was done for purposes of military secrecy, similar systems are used at SLC-6 and LC37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for the Delta IV rocket, ELA-1 &2 at CSG for the Ariane 1-4, and Kagoshima for the M-V. In the 1920s, Hermann Oberth described a method in which the vehicle is assembled vertically on a floating barge, which he used in the movie Frau im Mond. This was seriously considered for use at Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 for the Saturn V, dnepr rockets are transported vertically and then inserted into a silo, as they are converted cold-launch R-36 Voevoda ICBMs
Launch pad
–
Launch Pad 39B at
Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39, on
Merritt Island, Florida
Launch pad
–
General
7.
Launch vehicle
–
In spaceflight, a launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket used to carry a payload from Earths surface into outer space. A launch system includes the launch vehicle, the launch pad, Earth orbital launch vehicles typically have at least two stages, and sometimes as many as four or more. Expendable launch vehicles are designed for one-time use and they usually separate from their payload and disintegrate during atmospheric reentry. In contrast, reusable vehicles are designed to be recovered intact. The Space Shuttle was a part of a vehicle with components used for multiple orbital spaceflights. SpaceX has developed a rocket launching system to successfully bring back a part—the first stage—of their Falcon 9. A fully reusable VTVL design is planned for all parts of the ITS launch vehicle, Launch vehicles are often classified by the amount of mass they can carry into orbit. For example, a Proton rocket can lift 22,000 kilograms into low Earth orbit, Launch vehicles are also characterized by their number of stages. Rockets with as many as five stages have been successfully launched, additionally, launch vehicles are very often supplied with boosters supplying high early thrust, normally burning with other engines. Boosters allow the engines to be smaller, reducing the burnout mass of later stages to allow larger payloads. Other frequently reported characteristics of vehicles are the launching nation or space agency. For example, the European Space Agency is responsible for the Ariane V, many launch vehicles are considered part of a historical line of vehicles of same or similar name, e. g. the Atlas V is the latest Atlas rocket. A small-lift launch vehicle is capable of lifting up to 2,000 kg of payload into low Earth orbit, a medium-lift launch vehicle is capable of lifting 2,000 to 20,000 kg of payload into LEO. A heavy-lift launch vehicle is capable of lifting 20,000 to 50,000 kg of payload into LEO, a super-heavy lift vehicle is capable of lifting more than 50,000 kg of payload into LEO. It refers to its 1,500 kg to LEO Vega launch vehicle as light lift, sounding rockets have long been used for brief, inexpensive unmanned space and microgravity experiments. Current human-rated suborbital launch vehicles include SpaceShipOne and the upcoming SpaceShipTwo, minimizing air drag requires a reasonably high ballistic coefficient, a ratio of length to diameter greater than ten. This generally results in a vehicle that is at least 20 m long. Leaving the atmosphere as early on in the flight as possible provides a velocity loss due to air drag of around 300 m/s, Launch vehicles of sufficient size are capable of launching payloads smaller than their orbital capability, to the Moon or beyond
Launch vehicle
–
Russian
Soyuz TMA-5 lifts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan heading for the
ISS
Launch vehicle
–
A
Saturn V launch vehicle sends
Apollo 15 on its way to the Moon.
Launch vehicle
–
Ukrainian launch vehicle
Zenit-2 is prepared for launch
Launch vehicle
–
General
8.
Runway
–
According to the International Civil Aviation Organization, a runway is a defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft. Runways may be a surface or a natural surface. Runways are named by a number between 01 and 36, which is generally the magnetic azimuth of the heading in decadegrees. This heading differs from true north by the magnetic declination. A runway numbered 09 points east, runway 18 is south, runway 27 points west, when taking off from or landing on runway 09, a plane would be heading 90°. A runway can normally be used in both directions, and is named for each separately, e. g. runway 33 in one direction is runway 15 when used in the other. The two numbers usually differ by 18, Runway Zero Three Left becomes Runway Two One Right when used in the opposite direction. In some countries, if parallel runways are too close to each other, at large airports with four or more parallel runways some runway identifiers are shifted by 10 degrees to avoid the ambiguity that would result with more than three parallel runways. For example, in Los Angeles, this results in runways 6L, 6R, 7L. At Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, there are five parallel runways, named 17L, 17C, 17R, 18L, for clarity in radio communications, each digit in the runway name is pronounced individually, runway three six, runway one four, etc. A leading zero, for example in runway zero six or runway zero one left, is included for all ICAO, however, most U. S. civil aviation airports drop the leading zero as required by FAA regulation. This also includes some military airfields such as Cairns Army Airfield and this American anomaly may lead to inconsistencies in conversations between American pilots and controllers in other countries. It is very common in a such as Canada for a controller to clear an incoming American aircraft to, for example, runway 04. In flight simulation programs those of American origin might apply U. S. usage to airports around the world, for example, runway 05 at Halifax will appear on the program as the single digit 5 rather than 05. Runway designations change over time because the magnetic poles slowly drift on the Earths surface, depending on the airport location and how much drift takes place, it may be necessary over time to change the runway designation. As runways are designated with headings rounded to the nearest 10 degrees, for example, if the magnetic heading of a runway is 233 degrees, it would be designated Runway 23. If the magnetic heading changed downwards by 5 degrees to 228, if on the other hand the original magnetic heading was 226, and the heading decreased by only 2 degrees to 224, the runway should become Runway 22. Because the drift itself is slow, runway designation changes are uncommon
Runway
–
A runway at
Brussels Airport
Runway
–
Runway of
Chennai International Airport,
Chennai, India
Runway
–
Runways at
Stockholm-Arlanda Airport
Runway
–
Runway sign at
Madrid-Barajas Airport, Spain
9.
HTHL
–
Aircraft can have different ways to take off and land. Conventional airplanes accelerate along the ground until sufficient lift is generated for takeoff, some airplanes can take off at low speed, this being a short takeoff. Some aircraft such as helicopters and Harrier Jump Jets can take off, rockets also usually take off vertically, but some designs can land horizontally. Takeoff is the phase of flight in which an aircraft goes through a transition from moving along the ground to flying in the air, for balloons, helicopters and some specialized fixed-wing aircraft, no runway is needed. Takeoff is the opposite of landing, Landing is the last part of a flight, where a flying aircraft or spacecraft returns to the ground. When the flying object returns to water, the process is called alighting, although it is commonly called landing, a normal aircraft flight would include several parts of flight including taxi, takeoff, climb, cruise, descent and landing. STOL is an acronym for short take-off and landing, aircraft with short runway requirements. CATOBAR is a used for the launch and recovery of aircraft from the deck of an aircraft carrier. Under this technique, aircraft are launched using a catapult and land on the ship using arrestor wires, although this system is more costly than alternative methods, it provides greater flexibility in carrier operations, since it allows the vessel to support conventional aircraft. Alternate methods of launch and recovery can only use aircraft with STOVL or STOBAR capability, STOBAR is a system used for the launch and recovery of aircraft from the deck of an aircraft carrier, combining elements of both STOVL and CATOBAR. It is also used for the upcoming Tier 1b SpaceShipTwo/WhiteKnightTwo combination, a prominent example of its use was the North American X-15 program. In these examples the space craft are carried to altitude on a ship before launch. The failed proposals for NASA Space Shuttle replacements, Rockwell X-30 NASP used this mode of operation but were conceived as single stage to orbit. The Lynx rocketplane is a suborbital HTHL spaceplane that was slated to begin flight testing in late 2011. Reaction Engines Skylon, a descendant of the 1980s British HOTOL design project, is an HTHL spaceplane currently in the early stages of development in the United Kingdom. An early example was the 1960s Northrop HL-10 atmospheric test aircraft where the HL stands for Horizontal Lander, different terms are used for takeoff and landing depending on the source of thrust used. VTVL uses rockets, whereas VTOL uses air, propelled via some kind of rotor system, VTOL is an acronym for vertical take-off and landing aircraft. This classification includes fixed-wing aircraft that can hover, take off and land vertically as well as helicopters and other aircraft with powered rotors, the terminology for spacecraft and rockets is VTVL
HTHL
–
An airliner flaring at
London Heathrow Airport (
Air Jamaica Airbus A340-300)
HTHL
–
A landing
Qantas Boeing 747-400 passes close to houses on the boundary of
London Heathrow Airport, England
HTHL
–
A
mute swan alighting. Note the ruffled feathers on top of the wings indicate that the swan is flying at the
stalling speed. The extended and splayed feathers act as lift augmenters in the same way as an aircraft's
slats and
flaps.
HTHL
–
An unusual landing; a
Piper J3C-65 Cub lands on a trailer as part of an airshow.
10.
HTVL
–
Aircraft can have different ways to take off and land. Conventional airplanes accelerate along the ground until sufficient lift is generated for takeoff, some airplanes can take off at low speed, this being a short takeoff. Some aircraft such as helicopters and Harrier Jump Jets can take off, rockets also usually take off vertically, but some designs can land horizontally. Takeoff is the phase of flight in which an aircraft goes through a transition from moving along the ground to flying in the air, for balloons, helicopters and some specialized fixed-wing aircraft, no runway is needed. Takeoff is the opposite of landing, Landing is the last part of a flight, where a flying aircraft or spacecraft returns to the ground. When the flying object returns to water, the process is called alighting, although it is commonly called landing, a normal aircraft flight would include several parts of flight including taxi, takeoff, climb, cruise, descent and landing. STOL is an acronym for short take-off and landing, aircraft with short runway requirements. CATOBAR is a used for the launch and recovery of aircraft from the deck of an aircraft carrier. Under this technique, aircraft are launched using a catapult and land on the ship using arrestor wires, although this system is more costly than alternative methods, it provides greater flexibility in carrier operations, since it allows the vessel to support conventional aircraft. Alternate methods of launch and recovery can only use aircraft with STOVL or STOBAR capability, STOBAR is a system used for the launch and recovery of aircraft from the deck of an aircraft carrier, combining elements of both STOVL and CATOBAR. It is also used for the upcoming Tier 1b SpaceShipTwo/WhiteKnightTwo combination, a prominent example of its use was the North American X-15 program. In these examples the space craft are carried to altitude on a ship before launch. The failed proposals for NASA Space Shuttle replacements, Rockwell X-30 NASP used this mode of operation but were conceived as single stage to orbit. The Lynx rocketplane is a suborbital HTHL spaceplane that was slated to begin flight testing in late 2011. Reaction Engines Skylon, a descendant of the 1980s British HOTOL design project, is an HTHL spaceplane currently in the early stages of development in the United Kingdom. An early example was the 1960s Northrop HL-10 atmospheric test aircraft where the HL stands for Horizontal Lander, different terms are used for takeoff and landing depending on the source of thrust used. VTVL uses rockets, whereas VTOL uses air, propelled via some kind of rotor system, VTOL is an acronym for vertical take-off and landing aircraft. This classification includes fixed-wing aircraft that can hover, take off and land vertically as well as helicopters and other aircraft with powered rotors, the terminology for spacecraft and rockets is VTVL
HTVL
–
An airliner flaring at
London Heathrow Airport (
Air Jamaica Airbus A340-300)
HTVL
–
A landing
Qantas Boeing 747-400 passes close to houses on the boundary of
London Heathrow Airport, England
HTVL
–
A
mute swan alighting. Note the ruffled feathers on top of the wings indicate that the swan is flying at the
stalling speed. The extended and splayed feathers act as lift augmenters in the same way as an aircraft's
slats and
flaps.
HTVL
–
An unusual landing; a
Piper J3C-65 Cub lands on a trailer as part of an airshow.
11.
Rocket
–
A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle that obtains thrust from a rocket engine. Rocket engine exhaust is formed entirely from propellant carried within the rocket before use, Rocket engines work by action and reaction and push rockets forward simply by expelling their exhaust in the opposite direction at high speed, and can therefore work in the vacuum of space. In fact, rockets work more efficiently in space than in an atmosphere, multistage rockets are capable of attaining escape velocity from Earth and therefore can achieve unlimited maximum altitude. Compared with airbreathing engines, rockets are lightweight and powerful and capable of generating large accelerations. To control their flight, rockets rely on momentum, airfoils, auxiliary engines, gimballed thrust, momentum wheels, deflection of the exhaust stream, propellant flow, spin. Rockets for military and recreational uses date back to at least 13th century China, significant scientific, interplanetary and industrial use did not occur until the 20th century, when rocketry was the enabling technology for the Space Age, including setting foot on the Earths moon. Rockets are now used for fireworks, weaponry, ejection seats, launch vehicles for satellites, human spaceflight. Chemical rockets are the most common type of high power rocket, chemical rockets store a large amount of energy in an easily released form, and can be very dangerous. However, careful design, testing, construction and use minimizes risks, the first gunpowder-powered rockets were developed in Song China, by the 13th century. The Chinese rocket technology was adopted by the Mongols and the invention was spread via the Mongol invasions to the Near East, medieval and early modern rockets were used militarily as incendiary weapons in sieges. An early Chinese text to mention the use of rockets was the Huolongjing, between 1270 and 1280, Hasan al-Rammah wrote al-furusiyyah wa al-manasib al-harbiyya, which included 107 gunpowder recipes,22 of which are for rockets. In Europe, Konrad Kyeser described rockets in his military treatise Bellifortis around 1405. The name Rocket comes from the Italian rocchetta, meaning bobbin or little spindle, the Italian term was adopted into German in the mid 16th century by Leonhard Fronsperger and Conrad Haas, and by the early 17th century into English. Artis Magnae Artilleriae pars prima, an important early work on rocket artillery. The first iron-cased rockets were developed in the late 18th century in the Kingdom of Mysore, in 1814, Francis Scott Key wrote the line rockets red glare while held captive on a British ship that was laying siege to Fort McHenry. The first mathematical treatment of the dynamics of rocket propulsion is due to William Moore, in 1815, Alexander Dmitrievich Zasyadko constructed rocket-launching platforms, which allowed rockets to be fired in salvos, and gun-laying devices. William Hale in 1844 greatly increased the accuracy of rocket artillery, the Congreve rocket was further improved by Edward Mounier Boxer in 1865. Konstantin Tsiolkovsky first speculated on the possibility of manned spaceflight with rocket technology, robert Goddard in 1920 published proposed improvements to rocket technology in A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes
Rocket
–
A
Soyuz-U, at
Baikonur cosmodrome 's
Site 1/5 in
Kazakhstan
Rocket
–
A depiction of the "long serpent" rocket launcher from the 11th century book
Wujing Zongyao. The holes in the frame are designed to keep the fire arrows separate.
Rocket
–
Ryusei Festival at
Yoshida town,
Chichibu city,
Saitama, Japan
Rocket
–
Kyeser was infatuated with the
legend of Alexander the Great: here Alexander holds a rocket, the first depiction of one
12.
V-2 rocket
–
The V-2, technical name Aggregat 4, was the worlds first long-range guided ballistic missile. The V-2 rocket also became the first artificial object to cross the boundary of space with the launch of MW18014 on 20 June 1944. Research into military use of long range rockets began when the studies of graduate student Wernher von Braun attracted the attention of the German Army, a series of prototypes culminated in the A-4, which went to war as the V-2. Beginning in September 1944, over 3,000 V-2s were launched by the German Wehrmacht against Allied targets during the war, first London and later Antwerp and Liège. As Germany collapsed, teams from the Allied forces—the United States, the United Kingdom, Wernher von Braun and over 100 key V-2 personnel surrendered to the Americans. Eventually, many of the original V-2 team ended up working at the Redstone Arsenal, the US also captured enough V-2 hardware to build approximately 80 of the missiles. The Soviets gained possession of the V-2 manufacturing facilities after the war, re-established V-2 production, in the late 1920s, a young Wernher von Braun bought a copy of Hermann Oberths book, Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen. Starting in 1930, he attended the Technical University of Berlin, von Braun was working on his doctorate when the Nazi Party gained power in Germany. An artillery captain, Walter Dornberger, arranged an Ordnance Department research grant for von Braun, von Brauns thesis, Construction, Theoretical, and Experimental Solution to the Problem of the Liquid Propellant Rocket, was kept classified by the German Army and was not published until 1960. By the end of 1934, his group had launched two rockets that reached heights of 2.2 and 3.5 km. At the time, Germany was highly interested in American physicist Robert H. Goddards research, before 1939, German engineers and scientists occasionally contacted Goddard directly with technical questions. Von Braun used Goddards plans from various journals and incorporated them into the building of the Aggregat series of rockets, during 28–30 September 1939, Der Tag der Weisheit conference met at Peenemünde to initiate the funding of university research to solve rocket problems. By late 1941, the Army Research Center at Peenemünde possessed the essential to the success of the A-4. The four key technologies for the A-4 were large liquid-fuel rocket engines, supersonic aerodynamics, gyroscopic guidance, at the time, Adolf Hitler was not particularly impressed by the V-2, he pointed out that it was merely an artillery shell with a longer range and much higher cost. Hitler was sufficiently impressed by the enthusiasm of its developers, and needed a weapon to maintain German morale. The V-2s were constructed at the Mittelwerk site by prisoners from Mittelbau-Dora, the A-4 used a 74% ethanol/water mixture for fuel and liquid oxygen for oxidizer. The rocket reached a height of 80 km after shutting off the engine, the fuel and oxidizer pumps were driven by a steam turbine, and the steam was produced by concentrated hydrogen peroxide with sodium permanganate catalyst. Both the alcohol and oxygen tanks were an aluminium-magnesium alloy, the combustion burner reached a temperature of 2,500 to 2,700 °C
V-2 rocket
–
Peenemünde Museum
replica of V-2.
V-2 rocket
–
Wind tunnel model of an A4 in the
German Museum of Technology in Berlin
V-2 rocket
–
Layout of a V-2 rocket.
V-2 rocket
–
Captured V2 on public display in Antwerp, 1945. Exhaust vanes and external rudders in tail section shown.
13.
Germany
–
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
Germany
–
The
Nebra sky disk is dated to c. 1600 BC.
Germany
–
Flag
Germany
–
Martin Luther (1483–1546) initiated the
Protestant Reformation.
Germany
–
Foundation of the
German Empire in
Versailles, 1871.
Bismarck is at the center in a white uniform.
14.
World War II
–
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
World War II
–
Clockwise from top left: Chinese forces in the
Battle of Wanjialing, Australian
25-pounder guns during the
First Battle of El Alamein, German
Stuka dive bombers on the
Eastern Front in December 1943, a U.S. naval force in the
Lingayen Gulf,
Wilhelm Keitel signing the
German Instrument of Surrender, Soviet troops in the
Battle of Stalingrad
World War II
–
The
League of Nations assembly, held in
Geneva,
Switzerland, 1930
World War II
–
Adolf Hitler at a German
National Socialist political rally in
Weimar, October 1930
World War II
–
Italian soldiers recruited in 1935, on their way to fight the
Second Italo-Abyssinian War
15.
White Sands Missile Range
–
White Sands Missile Range is a United States Army military testing area of almost 3,200 sq mi in parts of five counties in southern New Mexico. Just seven days later, the first atomic bomb test, code named Trinity was exploded at Trinity Site, designated historic sites on WSMR land include, Trinity Site, Selected in November 1944 for the Trinity nuclear test conducted on 16 July 1945. White Sands V-2 Launching Site, A V-2 static test firing was 15 March 1946, the White Sands Test Center headquartered at the WSMR Post Area has branches for Manned Tactical Systems & Electromagnetic Radiation and conducts missile testing and range recovery operations. White Sands Hall of Fame, which inducts members such as the first range commander, Col. Harold Turner,1972 DoD Centers for Countermeasures, which evaluate precision guided munitions and other devices in electronic counter- and counter-countermeasures environments. 1963 NASA White Sands Test Facilitys ground station for Tracking and Data Relay Satellites, the North Oscura Peak facility of the AFRL Directed Energy Directorate 1930, Robert Goddard began rocket testing in New Mexico. 1940s, When the range was formed, ranchers land was leased and, in the 1970s, 1941-12, Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range established near the West Texas Bombardier Triangle. 1941-12, Executive Order No.9029 canceled grazing leases on the newly established Alamogordo Bombing, 1942-07, Goddards rocket research group moved from Roswell, New Mexico, to Annapolis, Maryland. 1944-02, War Department and the Corps of Engineers Ordnance Department teams looked for a US missile test site, 1945-07-13, McDonald Ranch House, Manhattan Project location for the final assembly of the prototype Fat Man plutonium bomb. 1945-07-16, Trinity test of the bomb, the first nuclear weapon tested in the world. 1945-02-20, The Secretary of War approved establishment of WSPG, 1945-04-01, The first Private F launch was at WSPG. 1945-06-25, WSPG construction began with drilling of water wells, 1945-07, First of 300 railroad cars of German V-2 components began to arrive at Las Cruces, New Mexico. 1945-09, The blockhouse at Army Launch Area 1 was completed, 1945-09-16, First WAC Corporal test firing. 1945-11, GE contractors began to identify, sort, and reassemble V-2 components in Building 1538,1946,35 of the Operation Paperclip scientists from Germany were working at WSPG. 1946-05-26, The 4th U. S. V-2 launch was tracked by two AN/MPQ-2 stations,1946 summer, New WSPG quarters were completed and the Medical Detachment and 3 batteries moved from Ft Bliss. 1946-09, First static firing of a Nike missile was at WSPG,1947, A merging of military areas established the New Mexico Joint Guided Missile Test Range. 1947-11-14, The USAFs Alamogordo Guided Missile Test Base on the range had its first GAPA missile launch, 1948-05 to 1949-4, First six flight attempts for the Project Bumper two-stage V-2 SRBM/WAC Corporal two-stage research vehicles as the worlds first high-speed multistage rockets to be launched. 1949, German scientists transferred from New Mexico to Alabama 1949-07, 1951-07, The AGMTB became a sub-base of Floridas Air Force Missile Test Center until 31 August 1952. 1951-08-22, Broomstick Scientists in a unit of the 9393 Technical Service Unit conducted their first launch, 1952-05, An additional 40 mi ×117 mi was set aside for the Alamogordo bombing range, White Sands proving ground, and the Fort Bliss antiaircraft range
White Sands Missile Range
–
The site of the 1945
Trinity explosion became part of WSMR.
White Sands Missile Range
–
Most of the northern Tularosa basin (blue) is used for the WSMR (area within dashed perimeter), which encloses numerous areas that are not military land (e.g., the
NPS's White Sands National Monument), as well as
USAF facilities.
White Sands Missile Range
–
1982 Space Shuttle Columbia landing at
Northrop Strip
16.
Kazakhstan
–
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in northern Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Kazakhstan is the worlds largest landlocked country, and the ninth largest in the world, Kazakhstan is the dominant nation of Central Asia economically, generating 60% of the regions GDP, primarily through its oil/gas industry. It also has vast mineral resources, Kazakhstan is officially a democratic, secular, unitary, constitutional republic with a diverse cultural heritage. Kazakhstan shares borders with Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, the terrain of Kazakhstan includes flatlands, steppe, taiga, rock canyons, hills, deltas, snow-capped mountains, and deserts. Kazakhstan has an estimated 18 million people as of 2014, Given its large area, its population density is among the lowest. The capital is Astana, where it was moved in 1997 from Almaty, the territory of Kazakhstan has historically been inhabited by nomadic tribes. This changed in the 13th century, when Genghis Khan occupied the country as part of the Mongolian Empire, following internal struggles among the conquerors, power eventually reverted to the nomads. By the 16th century, the Kazakh emerged as a distinct group, the Russians began advancing into the Kazakh steppe in the 18th century, and by the mid-19th century, they nominally ruled all of Kazakhstan as part of the Russian Empire. Following the 1917 Russian Revolution, and subsequent civil war, the territory of Kazakhstan was reorganised several times, in 1936, it was made the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, part of the Soviet Union. Kazakhstan was the last of the Soviet republics to declare independence during the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Kazakhstan has worked to develop its economy, especially its dominant hydrocarbon industry. Kazakhstans 131 ethnicities include Kazakhs, Russians, Uzbeks, Ukrainians, Germans, Tatars, the Kazakh language is the state language, and Russian has equal official status for all levels of administrative and institutional purposes. The name Kazakh comes from the ancient Turkic word qaz, to wander, the name Cossack is of the same origin. The Persian suffix -stan means land or place of, so Kazakhstan can be translated as land of the wanderers. Kazakhstan has been inhabited since the Neolithic Age, the regions climate, archaeologists believe that humans first domesticated the horse in the regions vast steppes. Central Asia was originally inhabited by the Scythians, the Cuman entered the steppes of modern-day Kazakhstan around the early 11th century, where they later joined with the Kipchak and established the vast Cuman-Kipchak confederation. Under the Mongol Empire, the largest in history, administrative districts were established. These eventually came under the rule of the emergent Kazakh Khanate, throughout this period, traditional nomadic life and a livestock-based economy continued to dominate the steppe. Nevertheless, the region was the focus of ever-increasing disputes between the native Kazakh emirs and the neighbouring Persian-speaking peoples to the south, at its height the Khanate would rule parts of Central Asia and control Cumania
Kazakhstan
–
Artistic depiction of medieval
Taraz situated along the Silk Road
Kazakhstan
–
Flag
Kazakhstan
–
Ablai Khan served as khan of the
Middle jüz from 1771 to 1781
Kazakhstan
–
Inside a Kazakh
yurt
17.
Sputnik 1
–
Sputnik 1 was the first artificial Earth satellite. The Soviet Union launched it into an elliptical low Earth orbit on 4 October 1957 and it was a 58 cm diameter polished metal sphere, with four external radio antennas to broadcast radio pulses. It was visible all around the Earth and its radio pulses were detectable and this surprise success precipitated the American Sputnik crisis and triggered the Space Race, a part of the larger Cold War. The launch ushered in new political, military, technological, tracking and studying Sputnik 1 from Earth provided scientists with valuable information, even though the satellite itself wasnt equipped with sensors. The density of the atmosphere could be deduced from its drag on the orbit. Sputnik 1 was launched during the International Geophysical Year from Site No. 1/5, at the 5th Tyuratam range, the satellite travelled at about 29,000 kilometres per hour, taking 96.2 minutes to complete each orbit. It transmitted on 20.005 and 40.002 MHz, the signals continued for 21 days until the transmitter batteries ran out on 26 October 1957. Sputnik burned up on 4 January 1958 while reentering Earths atmosphere, after travelling about 70 million km, on 17 December 1954, chief Soviet rocket scientist Sergei Korolev addressed Dimitri Ustinov and proposed a developmental plan for an artificial satellite. Korolev forwarded a report by Mikhail Tikhonravov with an overview of similar projects abroad, Tikhonravov had emphasized that the launch of an orbital satellite was an inevitable stage in the development of rocket technology. On 29 July 1955, U. S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower announced through his press secretary that the United States would launch an artificial satellite during the International Geophysical Year. A week later, on 8 August, the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union approved the proposal to create an artificial satellite. On 30 August Vasily Ryabikov – the head of the State Commission on R-7 rocket test launches – held a meeting where Korolev presented calculation data for a trajectory to the Moon. They decided to develop a version of the R-7 rocket for satellite launches. On 30 January 1956 the Council of Ministers approved practical work on an artificial Earth-orbiting satellite. This satellite, named Object D, was planned to be completed in 1957–58, it would have a mass of 1,000 to 1,400 kg, the first test launch of Object D was scheduled for 1957. These included measuring the density of the atmosphere and its ion composition, the wind, magnetic fields. These data would be valuable in the creation of artificial satellites. A system of stations was to be developed to collect data transmitted by the satellite, observe the satellites orbit
Sputnik 1
–
A replica of Sputnik 1
Sputnik 1
–
This metal arming key is the last remaining piece of the first Sputnik satellite. It prevented contact between the batteries and the transmitter prior to launch. Currently on display at the
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
Sputnik 1
–
30k USSR
postage stamp depicting Sputnik 1
Sputnik 1
–
A replica of Sputnik 1 at the U.S.
National Air and Space Museum
18.
Lockheed U-2
–
It provides day and night, high-altitude, all-weather intelligence gathering. The U-2 has also used for electronic sensor research, satellite calibration. Early versions of the U-2 were involved in several events through the Cold War, being flown over the Soviet Union, China, Vietnam, in 1960, Gary Powers was shot down in a CIA U-2A over the Soviet Union by a surface-to-air missile. Another U-2, piloted by Major Rudolf Anderson, Jr. was lost in a fashion during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. The U-2 is one of a handful of types to have served the USAF for over 50 years. The newest models entered service in the 1980s, the current model, the U-2S, received its most recent technical upgrade in 2012. They have taken part in post–Cold War conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, after World War II, the U. S. military desired better strategic aerial reconnaissance to help determine Soviet capabilities and intentions. Richard Leghorn of the USAF suggested that an aircraft that could fly at 60,000 feet should be safe from the MiG-17, the Soviet Unions best interceptor, which could barely reach 45,000 feet. He and others believed that Soviet radar, which used American equipment provided during the war, the highest-flying aircraft available to America and its allies at the time was the English Electric Canberra, which could reach 48,000 feet. Air Research and Development Command mandated design changes made the aircraft more durable for combat. The Soviet Union, unlike the United States and Britain, had improved radar technology after the war and it was thought that an aircraft that could fly at 70,000 feet would be beyond the reach of Soviet fighters, missiles, and radar. Another USAF officer, John Seaberg, wrote a request for proposal in 1953 for an aircraft that could reach 70,000 feet over a target with 1,500 nmi of operational radius. The USAF decided to solicit designs only from smaller companies that could give the project more attention. Under the code name Bald Eagle, it contracts to Bell Aircraft, Martin Aircraft. Officials at Lockheed Aircraft Corporation heard about the project and decided to submit an unsolicited proposal, to save weight and increase altitude, Lockheed executive John Carter suggested that the design eliminate landing gear and avoid attempting to meet combat load factors for the airframe. The company asked Clarence Kelly Johnson to come up such a design. Johnson was Lockheeds best aeronautical engineer, responsible for the P-38 and he was also known for completing projects ahead of schedule, working in a separate division of the company, informally called the Skunk Works. Johnsons design, named CL-282, was based on the Lockheed XF-104 with long, slender wings, the design was powered by the General Electric J73 engine and took off from a special cart and landed on its belly
Lockheed U-2
–
U-2
Lockheed U-2
–
Original U-2A at USAF Museum
Lockheed U-2
–
U-2 at the
Imperial War Museum, Duxford
Lockheed U-2
–
U-2 camera on display at the
National Air and Space Museum
19.
Yuri Gagarin
–
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was a Russian Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. He was the first human to journey into space, when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on 12 April 1961. Gagarin became a celebrity, and was awarded many medals and titles, including Hero of the Soviet Union. Vostok 1 marked his only spaceflight, but he served as crew to the Soyuz 1 mission. Gagarin later became deputy training director of the Cosmonaut Training Centre outside Moscow, Gagarin died in 1968 when the MiG-15 training jet he was piloting crashed. The Yuri Gagarin Medal is awarded in his honor, Yuri Gagarin was born in the village of Klushino, near Gzhatsk, on 9 March 1934. His parents worked on a farm, Alexey Ivanovich Gagarin as a carpenter and bricklayer. Yuri was the third of four children, older brother Valentin, older sister Zoya, like millions of people in the Soviet Union, the Gagarin family suffered during Nazi occupation in World War II. Klushino was occupied in November 1941 during the German advance on Moscow, and an officer took over the Gagarin residence. The family was allowed to build a mud hut, approximately 3 by 3 metres inside, on the land behind their house and his two older siblings were deported by the Germans to Poland for slave labour in 1943, and did not return until after the war in 1945. In 1946, the moved to Gzhatsk, where Gagarin continued his secondary education. After graduating in 1951 from both the grade and the vocational school, he was selected for further training at the Saratov Industrial Technical School. While in Saratov, Gagarin volunteered for training as a Soviet air cadet at a local flying club. He also earned money as a part-time dock laborer on the Volga River. After graduating from the school in 1955, the Soviet Army drafted Gagarin. On a recommendation, Gagarin was sent to the First Chkalov Air Force Pilots School in Orenburg, post-graduation, he was assigned to the Luostari airbase in Murmansk Oblast, close to the Norwegian border, where terrible weather made flying risky. He became a Lieutenant in the Soviet Air Forces on 5 November 1957, in 1960, after much searching and a selection process, Yuri Gagarin was chosen with 19 other pilots for the Soviet space program. Gagarin was further selected for a training group known as the Sochi Six
Yuri Gagarin
–
Gagarin on a visit to Sweden, 1964
Yuri Gagarin
–
Valentina Gagarina, Sima Eivazova and Yuri Gagarin in Bulgaria in 1966
Yuri Gagarin
–
Vostok I capsule on display at the
RKK Energiya museum
Yuri Gagarin
–
Gagarin in
Warsaw, 1961
20.
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
–
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is an installation of the United States Air Force Space Commands 45th Space Wing, headquartered at nearby Patrick Air Force Base. Located on Cape Canaveral in Brevard County, Florida, CCAFS is the primary head of Americas Eastern Range with three launch pads currently active. The Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Skid Strip provides a 10, 000-foot runway close to the launch complexes for military airlift aircraft delivering heavy, a number of American space exploration firsts were launched from CCAFS, including the first U. S. Earth satellite, first U. S. astronaut, first U. S. astronaut in orbit, first two-man U. S. spacecraft, first U. S. unmanned lunar landing, and first three-man U. S. spacecraft. The CCAFS area had used by the United States government to test missiles since 1949. On June 1,1948, the U. S. Navy transferred the former Banana River Naval Air Station to the U. S. Air Force, with USAF renaming the facility the Joint Long Range Proving Ground Base on June 10,1949. On October 1,1949, the Joint Long Range Proving Ground Base was transferred from the Air Materiel Command to the Air Force Division of the Joint Long Range Proving Ground. On May 17,1950, the base was renamed the Long Range Proving Ground Base, in 1951, the Air Force established the Air Force Missile Test Center. Early American sub-orbital rocket flights were achieved at Cape Canaveral in 1956 and these flights occurred shortly after sub-orbital flights launched from White Sands Missile Range, such as the Viking 12 sounding rocket on February 4,1955. Following the Soviet Unions successful Sputnik 1, the US attempted its first launch of a satellite from Cape Canaveral on December 6,1957. However, the rocket carrying Vanguard TV3 blew up on the launch pad, NASA was founded in 1958, and Air Force crews launched missiles for NASA from the Cape, known then as Cape Canaveral Missile Annex. The row of Titan and Atlas launch pads along the coast came to be known as Missile Row in the 1960s, nASAs first manned spaceflight program was prepared for launch from Canaveral by U. S. Air Force crews. Mercurys objectives were to place a spacecraft in Earth orbit, investigate human performance and ability to function in space. Suborbital flights were launched by derivatives of the Armys Redstone missile from LC-5, Orbital flights were launched by derivatives of the Air Forces larger Atlas D missile from LC-14. The first American in orbit was John Glenn on February 20,1962, three more orbital flights followed through May 1963. Flight control for all Mercury missions was provided at the Mercury Control Center located at Canaveral near LC-14 and he had also convinced Gov. C. Farris Bryant to change the name of Cape Canaveral to Cape Kennedy and this resulted in some confusion in public perception, which conflated the two. This name was used through the Gemini and early Apollo programs, however, the geographical name change proved to be unpopular, owing to the historical longevity of Cape Canaveral
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
–
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
–
A
Bumper V-2 was the first missile launched at Cape Canaveral, on July 24, 1950.
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
–
Alan Shepard watches Gus Grissom's
Liberty Bell 7 launch in the Mercury Control Center
21.
Kennedy Space Center
–
The John F. Kennedy Space Center is one of ten National Aeronautics and Space Administration field centers. Since December 1968, Kennedy Space Center has been NASAs primary launch center of human spaceflight, Launch operations for the Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle programs were carried out from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 and managed by KSC. Located on the east coast of Florida, KSC is adjacent to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the management of the two entities work very closely together, share resources, and even own facilities on each others property. Additionally, the center manages launch of robotic and commercial missions, researches food production and In-Situ Resource Utilization for off Earth exploration. Since 2010, the center has worked to become a multi-user spaceport through industry partnerships, there are about 700 facilities grouped across the centers 144,000 acres. There is also a Visitor Complex open to the public on site, the military had been performing launch operations since 1949 at what would become Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. In December 1959, the Department of Defense transferred 5,000 personnel, President John F. Kennedys 1961 goal of a manned lunar landing before 1970 required an expansion of launch operations. On July 1,1962, the Launch Operations Directorate was separated from MSFC to become the Launch Operations Center, therefore, the decision was made to build a new LOC site located adjacent to Cape Canaveral on Merritt Island. NASA began land acquisition in 1962, buying title to 131 square miles, the major buildings in KSCs Industrial Area were designed by architect Charles Luckman. Construction began in November 1962, and Kennedy visited the site twice in 1962, on November 29,1963, the facility was given its current name by President Lyndon B. Johnson under Executive Order 11129. Johnsons order joined both the civilian LOC and the military Cape Canaveral station under the designation John F. Kennedy Space Center, spawning some confusion joining the two in the public mind. Located on Merritt Island, Florida, the center is north-northwest of Cape Canaveral on the Atlantic Ocean and it is 34 miles long and roughly six miles wide, covering 219 square miles. KSC is a major central Florida tourist destination and is one hours drive from the Orlando area. The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex offers public tours of the center, Center workers can encounter bald eagles, American alligators, wild boars, eastern diamondback rattlesnakes, the endangered Florida panther and Florida manatees. From 1967 through 1973, there were 13 Saturn V launches, the first of two unmanned flights, Apollo 4 on November 9,1967, was also the first rocket launch from KSC. The Saturn Vs first manned launch on December 21,1968 was Apollo 8s lunar orbiting mission, the next two missions tested the Lunar Module, Apollo 9 and Apollo 10. Apollo 11, launched from Pad A on July 16,1969, Apollo 12 followed four months later. From 1970–1972, the Apollo program concluded at KSC with the launches of missions 13 through 17, on May 14,1973, the last Saturn V launch put the Skylab space station in orbit from Pad 39A
Kennedy Space Center
–
Aerial view of
KSC Headquarters looking south
Kennedy Space Center
–
KSC shown in white;
CCAFS in green
Kennedy Space Center
–
A Saturn V carrying
Apollo 15 rolls out to Pad 39A in 1971 on
Mobile Launch Platform 1.
Kennedy Space Center
–
Shuttle Discovery launching from Pad 39A on
STS-60, February 3, 1994
22.
Apollo 11
–
Apollo 11 was the spaceflight that landed the first two humans on the Moon. Mission commander Neil Armstrong and pilot Buzz Aldrin, both American, landed the lunar module Eagle on July 20,1969, at 20,18 UTC. Armstrong became the first to step onto the lunar surface six hours later on July 21 at 02,56,15 UTC and they spent about two and a quarter hours together outside the spacecraft, and collected 47.5 pounds of lunar material to bring back to Earth. Michael Collins piloted the command module Columbia alone in lunar orbit while they were on the Moons surface, Armstrong and Aldrin spent just under a day on the lunar surface before rendezvousing with Columbia in lunar orbit. Apollo 11 was launched by a Saturn V rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Florida, on July 16, and was the fifth manned mission of NASAs Apollo program. After being sent toward the Moon by the Saturn Vs upper stage, Armstrong and Aldrin then moved into the lunar module Eagle and landed in the Sea of Tranquility. They stayed a total of about 21.5 hours on the lunar surface, the astronauts used Eagles upper stage to lift off from the lunar surface and rejoin Collins in the command module. They jettisoned Eagle before they performed the maneuvers that blasted them out of orbit on a trajectory back to Earth. They returned to Earth and landed in the Pacific Ocean on July 24, broadcast on live TV to a worldwide audience, Armstrong stepped onto the lunar surface and described the event as one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. Apollo 11 was the second all-veteran multi-person crew in human spaceflight history, a previous solo veteran flight had been made on Soyuz 1 in 1967 by Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov. Collins was originally slated to be the Command Module Pilot on Apollo 8 but was removed when he required surgery on his back and was replaced by Jim Lovell, his backup for that flight. In early 1969, Anders accepted a job with the National Space Council effective August 1969, charlie Duke, Capsule Communicator Ronald Evans Owen K. Garriott Don L. Low to suggest the Apollo 11 crew be less flippant in naming their craft. During early mission planning, the names Snowcone and Haystack were used and put in the news release, the Command Module was named Columbia after the Columbiad, the giant cannon shell spacecraft fired by a giant cannon in Jules Vernes 1865 novel From the Earth to the Moon. The Lunar Module was named Eagle for the bird of the United States, the bald eagle. The Apollo 11 mission insignia was designed by Collins, who wanted a symbol for peaceful lunar landing by the United States and he chose an eagle as the symbol, put an olive branch in its beak, and drew a lunar background with the Earth in the distance. NASA officials said the talons of the eagle looked too warlike and after some discussion, All colors are natural, with blue and gold borders around the patch. When the Eisenhower dollar coin was released in 1971, the design provided the eagle for its reverse side. The design was used for the smaller Susan B
Apollo 11
–
Neil Armstrong descends a ladder to become the first human to step onto the surface of the Moon
Apollo 11
Apollo 11
–
Apollo 11 Command/Service Module Columbia in lunar orbit, photographed from the Lunar Module Eagle
Apollo 11
–
Apollo 11 space-flown silver
Robbins medallion
23.
Space Shuttle
–
The Space Shuttle was a partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated by the U. S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program name was Space Transportation System, taken from a 1969 plan for a system of reusable spacecraft of which it was the only item funded for development, the first of four orbital test flights occurred in 1981, leading to operational flights beginning in 1982. Five complete Shuttle systems were built and used on a total of 135 missions from 1981 to 2011, the Shuttle fleets total mission time was 1322 days,19 hours,21 minutes and 23 seconds. Shuttle components included the Orbiter Vehicle, a pair of solid rocket boosters. The Shuttle was launched vertically, like a rocket, with the two SRBs operating in parallel with the OVs three main engines, which were fueled from the ET. The SRBs were jettisoned before the vehicle reached orbit, and the ET was jettisoned just before orbit insertion, at the conclusion of the mission, the orbiter fired its OMS to de-orbit and re-enter the atmosphere. The orbiter then glided as a spaceplane to a landing, usually at the Shuttle Landing Facility of KSC or Rogers Dry Lake in Edwards Air Force Base. After landing at Edwards, the orbiter was back to the KSC on the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. The first orbiter, Enterprise, was built in 1976, used in Approach, four fully operational orbiters were initially built, Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, and Atlantis. Of these, two were lost in accidents, Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003, with a total of fourteen astronauts killed. A fifth operational orbiter, Endeavour, was built in 1991 to replace Challenger, the Space Shuttle was retired from service upon the conclusion of Atlantiss final flight on July 21,2011. Nixons post-Apollo NASA budgeting withdrew support of all components except the Shuttle. The vehicle consisted of a spaceplane for orbit and re-entry, fueled by liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen tanks. The first of four orbital test flights occurred in 1981, leading to operational flights beginning in 1982, all launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The system was retired from service in 2011 after 135 missions, the program ended after Atlantis landed at the Kennedy Space Center on July 21,2011. Major missions included launching numerous satellites and interplanetary probes, conducting space science experiments, the first orbiter vehicle, named Enterprise, was built for the initial Approach and Landing Tests phase and lacked engines, heat shielding, and other equipment necessary for orbital flight. A total of five operational orbiters were built, and of these and it was used for orbital space missions by NASA, the US Department of Defense, the European Space Agency, Japan, and Germany. The United States funded Shuttle development and operations except for the Spacelab modules used on D1, sL-J was partially funded by Japan
Space Shuttle
–
Discovery lifts off at the start of
STS-120.
Space Shuttle
–
STS-129 ready for launch
Space Shuttle
–
President Nixon (right) with
NASA Administrator Fletcher in January 1972, three months before Congress approved funding for the Shuttle program
Space Shuttle
–
STS-1 on the launch pad, December 1980
24.
Guiana Space Centre
–
The Guiana Space Centre or, more commonly, Centre Spatial Guyanais is a French and European spaceport to the northwest of Kourou in French Guiana. The European Space Agency, the French space agency CNES, and this was the spaceport used by the ESA to send supplies to the International Space Station using the Automated Transfer Vehicle. The location was selected in 1964 to become the spaceport of France, in 1975, France offered to share Kourou with ESA. Commercial launches are bought also by non-European companies, ESA pays two thirds of the spaceports annual budget and has also financed the upgrades made during the development of the Ariane launchers. Since April 4,2017, the centre has been occupied by 30 labor union leaders in the midst of the 2017 social unrest in French Guiana, Kourou is located approximately 500 kilometres north of the equator, at a latitude of 5°10. The near-equatorial launch location provides an advantage for launches to low-inclination Earth orbits compared to launches from spaceports at higher latitude, the proximity to the equator also makes maneuvering satellites for geosynchronous orbits simpler and less costly. Originally built in the 1960s under the name of CECLES, the ELV pad located at 5. 236°N52. 775°W /5.236, one Europa-II was launched from the site, before the programme was cancelled. The pad was demolished, and subsequently rebuilt as the first launch complex for Ariane rockets, renamed ELA, it was used for Ariane 1 and Ariane 2 and 3 launches until being retired in 1989. It was again refurbished for the Vega with the first launch performed on 13 February 2012, the ELA2 pad, located at 5. 232°N52. 776°W /5.232, -52.776 had been used for Ariane 4 launches until 2003. ELA3 has been active for Ariane 5 launches since 1996 and this facility is located at 5. 239°N52. 768°W /5.239, -52.768 and covers an area of 21 square kilometres. ESA has built ELS at 5. 305°N52. 834°W /5.305, the first Soyuz launch from ELS was postponed several times, but launched on October 21,2011. ELS is located on the territory of Sinnamary commune,27 km from Kourou harbor and it is 10 km north of the site used for the Ariane 5 launches. Russia will use the Guiana Space Centre in addition to Baikonur Cosmodrome, the Guiana location has the significant benefit of greatly increased payload capability, owing to the near equatorial position. A Soyuz rocket with a 1.7 tonnes to geostationary transfer orbit performance from Baikonur, the ELS project is being co-funded by Arianespace, ESA, and the European Union, with CNES being the prime contractor. The project has a projected cost of approximately €320 million, where €120 million are allocated for modernizing the Soyuz vehicle, the official opening of the launch site construction occurred on 27 February 2007. Excavation work however, had begun several months beforehand. By October 2010,18 launch contracts had been signed, Arianespace has ordered 24 launchers from Russian industry. On October 21,2011, two Galileo IOV-1 & IOV-2 satellites were launched using a Soyuz-ST rocket, in the first Russian Soyuz vehicle ever launched from Europes Spaceport in French Guiana, astrium assembles each Ariane 5 launcher in the Launcher Integration Building
Guiana Space Centre
–
Sign at the entrance to the Guiana Space Centre
Guiana Space Centre
–
The now-decommissioned ELA 2 - l'Ensemble de Lancement Ariane 2 Ariane 4 launch site
Guiana Space Centre
–
The final assembly building for Ariane 5
Guiana Space Centre
–
An
Ariane 5 lifts off from Kourou on 29 August 2013.
25.
Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center
–
Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center is a Chinese space vehicle launch facility located in the Gobi desert, Inner Mongolia. It is part of the Dongfeng Aerospace City, although the facility is geographically located within Ejin Banner of Inner Mongolias Alxa League, it is named after the nearest city, Jiuquan in Gansu Province. It was founded in 1958, the first of Chinas three spaceports, more Chinese launches have occurred at Jiuquan than anywhere else. As with all Chinese launch facilities it is remote and generally closed to foreigners, the Satellite Launch Center is a part of Dongfeng space city, also known as Base 10 or Dongfeng base, which also includes PLAAF test flight facilities, a space museum and a martyrs cemetery. JSLC is usually used to launch vehicles into lower and medium orbits with large orbital inclination angles and its facilities are state of the art and provide support to every phase of a satellite launch campaign. The site includes the Technical Center, the Launch Complex, the Launch Control Center, the center covers 2800 km² and may have housing for as many as 20,000 people. The facilities and launch support equipment were likely modelled on Soviet counterparts, Shenzhou 6, the second human spaceflight of China, launched on 12 October 2005 on a Long March rocket from JSLC. Shenzhou 7 was launched on 25 September 2008 by a Long March 2F rocket which lifted off from JSLC and this is the third human spaceflight mission of the Chinese space program. The mission, which included an activity carried out by crewmembers Zhai Zhigang and Liu Boming. Chinas unmanned spacecraft Shenzhou 8 blasted off on October 31,2011 and it is the latest step in what will be a decade-long effort by the country to place a manned permanent space station in orbit. Chinas fourth crewed spaceflight, Shenzhou 9, launched from JSLC on 16 June 2012 at 18,37 local time, the 13-day mission included Chinas first female astronaut and docked with the countrys Tiangong-1 space station module on Monday,18 June 2012. In August 2016, China launched the first quantum communication satellite, Launch Area 2,3 launch pads, LA-2A, CZ-1, DF-3, DF-5 LA-2B, CZ-2A, CZ-2C, CZ-2D, FB-1 Launch Area 3,2 launch pad, DF-1, DF-2, R-2. Launch Area 4,2 launch pads, only complex, SLS-1
Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center
–
Launch of a
LM-2D at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center
26.
Mojave Air and Space Port
–
The Mojave Air and Space Port, also known as the Civilian Aerospace Test Centre, is located in Mojave, California, at an elevation of 2,791 feet. It is the first facility to be licensed in the United States for horizontal launches of reusable spacecraft, in 1935, Kern County established the Mojave Airport a half mile east of town to serve the gold and silver mining industry in the area. The airport consisted of two runways, one of which was oiled, but it lacked any fueling or servicing facilities. In 1941, the Civil Aeronautics Board began improvements to the airport for defense purposes that included two 4,500 x 150-ft. Kern County agreed the airport could be taken over by the military in the event of war, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the United States Marine Corps took over the airport and expanded it into Marine Corps Auxiliary Air Station Mojave. The two existing runways were extended and a third one added, barracks were constructed to house 2,734 male and 376 female military personnel. Civilian employment at the base would peak at 176, the Marines would eventually spend more than $7 million on the base, which totaled 2,312 acres. Many of the Corps World War II aces received their training at Mojave. During World War II, Mojave hosted 29 aircraft squadrons, four Carrier Aircraft Service Detachments, at its peak, the air station had 145 training and other aircraft. Mojave also had a 75 x 156 foot swimming pool that was used to train aviators in emergency water egress, the bases 900-seat auditorium hosted several USO shows that featured Bob Hope, Frances Langford and Marilyn Maxwell. With the end of World War II, MCAAS was disestablished on February 7,1946, the Navy used the airport for drone operations for less than a year, closing it on January 1,1947. The base remained closed for four years until the outbreak of the Korean War, Mojave was reactivated as an auxiliary landing field to MCAS El Toro. The airport was recommissioned as a MCAAS on December 31,1953, Squadrons used Mojave for ordnance training when El Toro had bad weather. Marine Corps reserve units were deployed to Mojave for two-week periods. MCAAS Mojave personnel peaked at 400 military and 200 civilians during this period, in 1961, after the Marine Corps transferred operations to MCAS El Centro, Kern County obtained title to the airport. In February 1972, the East Kern Airport District was formed to administer the airport, to a great extent EKAD was the brainchild of Kern County rancher and aviator Dan Sabovich, who heavily lobbied the state for the airport districts creation and ran EKAD until 2002. During the 1970s, commuter air carrier Golden West Airlines provided scheduled service operated with de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter turboprops direct to Los Angeles. On November 20,2012, the EKAD Board of Directors voted to change the name of the district to the Mojave Air, officials said that the spaceport name is well known around the world, but EKAD is not
Mojave Air and Space Port
–
Mojave in 2009
Mojave Air and Space Port
–
Mojave spaceport
Mojave Air and Space Port
–
Administration offices, restaurant and old tower
Mojave Air and Space Port
–
Mojave Airport, storage location for commercial airliners.
27.
Private spaceflight
–
Private spaceflight is flight beyond the Kármán line —or the development of new spaceflight technology—that is conducted and paid for by an entity other than a government agency. The European Space Agency was formed in 1975, largely following the model of space technology development. Later on, large defense contractors began to develop and operate space launch systems, Private spaceflight in Earth orbit includes communications satellites, satellite television, satellite radio, astronaut transport and sub-orbital and orbital space tourism. In the 2000s, entrepreneurs began designing and—by the 2010s, deploying—competitive space systems to the national-monopoly governmental systems of the decades of the space age. These new offerings have brought about significant market competition in space launch services after 2010 that had not been present previously, planned private spaceflights beyond Earth orbit include personal spaceflights around the Moon. Two private orbital habitat prototypes are already in Earth orbit, with versions to follow. Planned private spaceflights beyond Earth orbit include solar sailing prototypes, Spaceflight was thus the monopoly province of a small group of national governments. Both the U. S. civilian space program and Soviet space program were operated using mainly military pilots as astronauts, during this period, no commercial space launches were available to private operators, and no private organization was able to offer space launches. Eventually, private organizations were able to offer and purchase space launches, thus beginning the period of private spaceflight. The first phase of private operation was the launch of the first commercial communications satellites. Communications Satellite Act of 1962 opened the way to commercial consortia owning and operating their own satellites, last ones counts the manned programs also - most famous and important of them are suborbital flights of Virgin Galactic and orbital flights of SpaceX and other COTS participants. Development of alternatives to government-provided space launch services began in earnest in the 2000s, lower prices for launch services after 2010, and published prices for standard launch services, have brought about significant space launch market competition that had not been present previously. In June 2013, British newspaper The Independent claimed that the race is flaring back into life. On 26 March 1980, the European Space Agency created Arianespace, Arianespace produces, operates and markets the Ariane launcher family. By 1995 Arianespace lofted its 100th satellite and by 1997 the Ariane rocket had its 100th launch, arianespaces 23 shareholders represent scientific, technical, financial and political entities from 10 different European countries. OTRAG, a German company founded in 1975, which proposed a radically different, under political pressure, the project was discontinued in the 1980s. Zero2infinity, a Spanish aerospace company, is developing a high-altitude balloon-based launch vehicle termed a bloostar to launch small satellites to orbit for customers, yet one of NASAs early actions was to effectively ban private space flight through a mountain of red tape. From the beginning, though, this met significant opposition not only by the private sector, in 1962, Congress passed its first law pushing back the prohibition on private involvement in space, the Communications Satellite Act of 1962
Private spaceflight
–
Astronaut
Dale A. Gardner holding a "For Sale" sign
Private spaceflight
–
Launch of a Proton rocket
Private spaceflight
–
The
SpaceX Dragon berthing with the ISS during its
final demonstration mission, on 25 May 2012.
Private spaceflight
–
Asteroid mining spacecraft
28.
SpaceShipOne
–
SpaceShipOne is an experimental air-launched rocket-powered aircraft with suborbital flight capability at speeds of up to 900 m/s, using a hybrid rocket motor. SpaceShipOne completed the first manned spaceflight in 2004. That same year, it won the US$10 million Ansari X Prize and was retired from active service. Its mother ship was named White Knight, both craft were developed and flown by Mojave Aerospace Ventures, which was a joint venture between Paul Allen and Scaled Composites, Burt Rutans aviation company. Allen provided the funding of approximately US$25 million, Rutan has indicated that ideas about the project began as early as 1994 and the full-time development cycle time to the 2004 accomplishments was about three years. The vehicle first achieved supersonic flight on December 17,2003, SpaceShipOnes first official spaceflight, known as flight 15P, was piloted by Mike Melvill. A few days before that flight, the Mojave Air and Space Port was the first commercial spaceport licensed in the United States, a few hours after that flight, Melvill became the first licensed U. S. commercial astronaut. The overall project name was Tier One which has evolved into Tier 1b with a goal of taking a ships first passengers into space within the next few days. The achievements of SpaceShipOne are more comparable to the X-15 than orbiting spacecraft like the Space Shuttle, accelerating a spacecraft to orbital speed requires more than 60 times as much energy as accelerating it to Mach 3. It would also require a heat shield to safely dissipate that energy during re-entry. SpaceShipOnes official model designation is Scaled Composites Model 316.52 m, the main structure is of a graphite/epoxy composite material. From front to back, it contains the cabin, oxidizer tank, fuel casing. The craft has short, wide wings, with a span of 5 m, there are large vertical tailbooms mounted on the end of each wing, with horizontal stabilisers protruding from the tailbooms. It has gear for horizontal landings, the overall mass of the fully fueled craft is 3,600 kg, of which 2,700 kg is taken by the fully loaded rocket motor. Empty mass of the spacecraft is 1,200 kg, including the 300 kg empty motor casing, originally the nozzle protruded from the back, but this turned out to be aerodynamically disadvantageous. In June 2004, between flights 14P and 15P, a fairing was added, smoothly extending the fuselage shape to meet the end of the nozzle. On flight 15P the new fairing overheated, due to being black on the inside and facing a hot, the fairing softened, and the lower part crumpled inwards during boost. Following that flight the interior of the fairing was painted white, the craft has a single unsteerable and unthrottleable hybrid rocket motor, a cold gas reaction control system, and aerodynamic control surfaces
SpaceShipOne
–
SpaceShipOne
SpaceShipOne
–
SpaceShipOne ranks among the
world 's first
spaceplanes in the
first 50 years of
human spaceflight, with the
North American X-15,
Space Shuttle,
Buran, and
Boeing X-37. SpaceShipOne is the second
spaceplane to have
launched from a
mother ship, preceded only by the
North American X-15.
SpaceShipOne
–
Flight 16P taxi pre launch
SpaceShipOne
–
Launch of the rockets on SpaceShipOne
29.
Equator
–
The Equator usually refers to an imaginary line on the Earths surface equidistant from the North Pole and South Pole, dividing the Earth into the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere. The Equator is about 40,075 kilometres long, some 78. 7% lies across water and 21. 3% over land, other planets and astronomical bodies have equators similarly defined. Generally, an equator is the intersection of the surface of a sphere with the plane that is perpendicular to the spheres axis of rotation. The latitude of the Earths equator is by definition 0° of arc, the equator is the only line of latitude which is also a great circle — that is, one whose plane passes through the center of the globe. The plane of Earths equator when projected outwards to the celestial sphere defines the celestial equator, in the cycle of Earths seasons, the plane of the equator passes through the Sun twice per year, at the March and September equinoxes. To an observer on the Earth, the Sun appears to travel North or South over the equator at these times, light rays from the center of the Sun are perpendicular to the surface of the Earth at the point of solar noon on the Equator. Locations on the Equator experience the quickest sunrises and sunsets because the sun moves nearly perpendicular to the horizon for most of the year. The Earth bulges slightly at the Equator, the diameter of the Earth is 12,750 kilometres. Because the Earth spins to the east, spacecraft must also launch to the east to take advantage of this Earth-boost of speed, seasons result from the yearly revolution of the Earth around the Sun and the tilt of the Earths axis relative to the plane of revolution. During the year the northern and southern hemispheres are inclined toward or away from the sun according to Earths position in its orbit, the hemisphere inclined toward the sun receives more sunlight and is in summer, while the other hemisphere receives less sun and is in winter. At the equinoxes, the Earths axis is not tilted toward the sun, instead it is perpendicular to the sun meaning that the day is about 12 hours long, as is the night, across the whole of the Earth. Near the Equator there is distinction between summer, winter, autumn, or spring. The temperatures are usually high year-round—with the exception of high mountains in South America, the temperature at the Equator can plummet during rainstorms. In many tropical regions people identify two seasons, the wet season and the dry season, but many places close to the Equator are on the oceans or rainy throughout the year, the seasons can vary depending on elevation and proximity to an ocean. The Equator lies mostly on the three largest oceans, the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Indian Ocean. The highest point on the Equator is at the elevation of 4,690 metres, at 0°0′0″N 77°59′31″W and this is slightly above the snow line, and is the only place on the Equator where snow lies on the ground. At the Equator the snow line is around 1,000 metres lower than on Mount Everest, the Equator traverses the land of 11 countries, it also passes through two island nations, though without making a landfall in either. Starting at the Prime Meridian and heading eastwards, the Equator passes through, Despite its name, however, its island of Annobón is 155 km south of the Equator, and the rest of the country lies to the north
Equator
–
Left: A monument marking the Equator near the town of
Pontianak, Indonesia Right: Road sign marking the Equator near
Nanyuki, Kenya
Equator
Equator
–
The Equator marked as it crosses
Ilhéu das Rolas, in São Tomé and Príncipe
30.
Geostationary orbit
–
A geostationary orbit, geostationary Earth orbit or geosynchronous equatorial orbit is a circular orbit 35,786 kilometres above the Earths equator and following the direction of the Earths rotation. An object in such an orbit has a period equal to the Earths rotational period and thus appears motionless, at a fixed position in the sky. Using this characteristic, ocean color satellites with visible and near-infrared light sensors can also be operated in geostationary orbit in order to monitor sensitive changes of ocean environments, the notion of a geostationary space station equipped with radio communication was published in 1928 by Herman Potočnik. The first appearance of an orbit in popular literature was in the first Venus Equilateral story by George O. Smith. Clarke acknowledged the connection in his introduction to The Complete Venus Equilateral, the orbit, which Clarke first described as useful for broadcast and relay communications satellites, is sometimes called the Clarke Orbit. Similarly, the Clarke Belt is the part of space about 35,786 km above sea level, in the plane of the equator, the Clarke Orbit is about 265,000 km in circumference. Most commercial communications satellites, broadcast satellites and SBAS satellites operate in geostationary orbits, a geostationary transfer orbit is used to move a satellite from low Earth orbit into a geostationary orbit. The first satellite placed into an orbit was the Syncom-3. A worldwide network of operational geostationary meteorological satellites is used to provide visible and infrared images of Earths surface, a geostationary orbit can only be achieved at an altitude very close to 35,786 km and directly above the equator. This equates to a velocity of 3.07 km/s and an orbital period of 1,436 minutes. This ensures that the satellite will match the Earths rotational period and has a footprint on the ground. All geostationary satellites have to be located on this ring. 85° per year, to correct for this orbital perturbation, regular orbital stationkeeping manoeuvres are necessary, amounting to a delta-v of approximately 50 m/s per year. A second effect to be taken into account is the longitude drift, there are two stable and two unstable equilibrium points. Any geostationary object placed between the points would be slowly accelerated towards the stable equilibrium position, causing a periodic longitude variation. The correction of this effect requires station-keeping maneuvers with a maximal delta-v of about 2 m/s per year, solar wind and radiation pressure also exert small forces on satellites, over time, these cause them to slowly drift away from their prescribed orbits. In the absence of servicing missions from the Earth or a renewable propulsion method, hall-effect thrusters, which are currently in use, have the potential to prolong the service life of a satellite by providing high-efficiency electric propulsion. This delay presents problems for latency-sensitive applications such as voice communication, geostationary satellites are directly overhead at the equator and become lower in the sky the further north or south one travels. At latitudes above about 81°, geostationary satellites are below the horizon, because of this, some Russian communication satellites have used elliptical Molniya and Tundra orbits, which have excellent visibility at high latitudes
Geostationary orbit
–
A 5 × 6 degree view of a part of the geostationary belt, showing several geostationary satellites. Those with inclination 0 degrees form a diagonal belt across the image; a few objects with small inclinations to the
Equator are visible above this line. The satellites are pinpoint, while stars have created small trails due to the
Earth's rotation.
Geostationary orbit
–
To an observer on the rotating Earth, both satellites appear stationary in the sky at their respective locations.
Media related to Spaceports at Wikimedia Commons
