Space Agencies and Missions

Space Agencies

• NASA stands for National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
• ESA is the European Space Agency.
• JAXA is the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
• CNSA is the China National Space Administration.
• ROSCOSMOS is the Russian Federal Space Agency.
• CSA is the Canadian Space Agency or Agence spatiale canadienne.
• PHILSA is the Philippine Space Agency.

Unlocking of Terms

• Astronaut means "star sailor" in Greek.
• Astronauts are trained to make rocket flights to outer space.

Exploration Project

• COBE, or Cosmic Background Explorer, is a NASA satellite mission.
• COBE was launched in 1989.
• COBE measured cosmic microwave background radiation.
• COBE mapped microwave distribution across the sky.
• COBE provided evidence for the Big Bang theory.

Space Shuttle

• The space shuttle was the world's first reusable spacecraft.
• It launched like a rocket and landed like an airplane.
• It consisted of the orbiter, main engines, external tank, and solid rocket boosters.
• From April 12, 1981, to July 21, 2011, NASA's space shuttle fleet flew 135 missions.
• Space Shuttles include Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour.
• Space Shuttles carried people into orbit, launched and recovered satellites, conducted research, and built the International Space Station.

Spacecraft

• A spacecraft is a vehicle designed to fly in space.
• It carries astronauts, cargo, or instruments.
• The International Space Station is a spacecraft.
• A space shuttle is a reusable spacecraft for transporting cargo and crew to and from Earth orbit.
• On the Artemis mission, the Orion spacecraft is used as the exploration vehicle that carries astronauts to space and to the moon.
• Rockets carry spacecraft from Earth to space.
• Rockets are also called launch vehicles.
• Rockets are complex due to millions of parts that must be calculated and constructed to work together.
• Rocket size and power depend on the spacecraft's mission.

Space Probe

• A space probe collects data from planets and satellites.
• Space probes are sent to other heavenly bodies.
• Satellites orbit Earth.

Space Telescope

• Space Telescopes observe celestial objects from outer space.
• Space Telescopes provide a clear view of the universe.
• NASA launched the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990.
• The Hubble Space Telescope is as long as a school bus and weighs as much as two adult elephants.
• The Hubble Space Telescope faces toward space.
• The Hubble Space Telescope has seen stars being born and die, galaxies trillions of miles away, and comet pieces crash into Jupiter.
• The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is the largest and most powerful telescope ever built.
• JWST was launched on December 25, 2021.
• JWST orbits around the Sun.
• JWST sees objects that are too far away or faint for the Hubble Space Telescope.

Space Station

• Space Stations are platforms in space with equipment and life support systems for humans to stay in space for a long time.
• Space Stations are used for research.
• Skylab was the first space station operated by the United States.
• Skylab spent six years orbiting Earth.
• Three three-man crews lived on Skylab for 28, 56, and 84 days.
• Astronauts conducted 270 experiments on Skylab.
• The experiments included biomedical and life sciences, solar astronomy, Earth observations, and materials processing.
• Investigations on astronauts' physiological responses to long-duration space flight were conducted.
• The International Space Station (ISS) is a giant orbiting home and lab.
• Astronauts live and do science experiments on the ISS.
• Many countries built and use the ISS together.
• The ISS orbits Earth every 90 minutes, so astronauts see 16 sunrises and sunsets daily.
• Astronauts on the ISS do experiments in space to learn about living and working in space.