All articles
53 articles across 6 categories, updated as spaceflight moves.
- SpaceXSpaceX is an American spacecraft manufacturer and launch provider that builds Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, Dragon, Starlink, and Starship, the largest rocket ever flown.
- Blue OriginBlue Origin is Jeff Bezos's spaceflight company, builder of the New Shepard suborbital vehicle, the New Glenn orbital rocket, and Blue Moon lunar landers.
- China National Space AdministrationThe China National Space Administration directs China's civil space effort: Chang'e Moon sample returns, Tianwen probes, and a crewed landing goal by 2030.
- European Space AgencyThe European Space Agency, founded in 1975 with 23 member states, develops Ariane rockets, flies JUICE, Euclid, and Hera, and builds Orion's service module.
- ISROISRO is India's national space agency, known for the Chandrayaan-3 Moon landing, Aditya-L1 solar observatory, LVM3 rocket, and the Gaganyaan crew program.
- JAXAJAXA is Japan's space agency, operator of the SLIM Moon lander, Hayabusa asteroid sample returns, the H3 rocket, and the MMX mission to Phobos.
- NASANASA is the United States civil space agency, founded in 1958, that ran Apollo and the shuttle and now leads the Artemis lunar program and a science fleet.
- Rocket LabRocket Lab is a US launch and space systems company founded by Peter Beck, operator of the Electron small rocket and developer of the reusable Neutron.
- RoscosmosRoscosmos is Russia's state space corporation, heir to the Soviet program, operating Soyuz flights, the ISS Russian segment, and the Luna-Glob lunar series.
- StarshipStarship is SpaceX's fully reusable super heavy-lift rocket and the largest ever flown, with twelve test flights since 2023 and a Version 3 debut in May 2026.
- Ariane 6Ariane 6 is Europe's expendable heavy launcher, flown since July 2024 in A62 and A64 versions. It launches Amazon Leo satellites and ESA missions.
- ElectronElectron is Rocket Lab's small-lift launcher, a carbon composite rocket with electric-pump Rutherford engines that has flown 91 times since 2017.
- Falcon 9Falcon 9 is SpaceX's partially reusable two-stage rocket and the most-flown American launch vehicle, with 670 Falcon family flights as of June 2026.
- Falcon HeavyFalcon Heavy is SpaceX's three-core heavy-lift rocket, flown 12 times since its 2018 debut with launches including Psyche, Europa Clipper, and GOES-U.
- New GlennNew Glenn is Blue Origin's heavy-lift rocket with a reusable first stage. It reached orbit in January 2025 and landed its booster on its second flight.
- Saturn VSaturn V was the NASA rocket that launched the Apollo Moon missions and Skylab, flying 13 times from 1967 to 1973 without losing a crew or payload.
- SoyuzSoyuz is the Russian rocket family descended from the 1957 R-7 missile. With well over 1,700 flights it is the most-launched orbital rocket line in history.
- Space Launch SystemThe Space Launch System is NASA's super-heavy Artemis Moon rocket. It flew uncrewed in 2022 and carried the Artemis II crew around the Moon in April 2026.
- Vulcan CentaurVulcan Centaur is ULA's successor to Atlas V and Delta IV, flown since January 2024 with Blue Origin BE-4 engines and the Centaur V upper stage.
- Apollo 11Apollo 11 was the first crewed Moon landing. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked at Tranquility Base on July 20, 1969, while Michael Collins orbited above.
- Artemis programArtemis is NASA's program to return astronauts to the Moon. Artemis II flew a crewed lunar flyby in April 2026; Artemis IV targets a south pole landing in 2028.
- Apollo programNASA's Apollo program landed 12 astronauts on the Moon across six missions from 1969 to 1972, returning 382 kg of lunar samples at a cost of $25.8 billion.
- Cassini-HuygensCassini-Huygens orbited Saturn from 2004 to 2017, landed the Huygens probe on Titan in 2005, discovered Enceladus plumes, and ended with the Grand Finale.
- Commercial Crew ProgramNASA's Commercial Crew Program pays SpaceX and Boeing to fly astronauts to the International Space Station, ending US dependence on Russian Soyuz seats.
- Curiosity (rover)NASA's Curiosity rover landed in Gale Crater in August 2012 and is still climbing Mount Sharp, with finds from ancient lakebeds to large organic molecules.
- Europa ClipperEuropa Clipper, NASA's largest planetary spacecraft, launched on a Falcon Heavy in October 2024 and will survey Jupiter's moon Europa with 49 flybys from 2030.
- Hubble Space TelescopeThe Hubble Space Telescope, launched April 24, 1990, has made nearly 1.7 million observations and still operates in one-gyroscope mode after 36 years.
- International Space StationThe International Space Station is a five-agency orbital laboratory continuously occupied since November 2000, with retirement planned for about 2030.
- James Webb Space TelescopeThe James Webb Space Telescope is a 6.5-meter infrared observatory launched December 25, 2021. It observes the earliest galaxies and exoplanet atmospheres.
- New HorizonsNew Horizons made the first Pluto flyby in July 2015 and the most distant flyby ever at Arrokoth in 2019; it now studies the Kuiper Belt beyond 64 AU.
- Perseverance (rover)NASA's Perseverance rover has explored Jezero Crater on Mars since February 2021, caching samples for return and finding a potential biosignature in 2024.
- StarlinkStarlink is SpaceX's satellite internet constellation, with about 10,400 satellites in orbit and more than 12 million customers in 160+ countries as of mid-2026.
- Voyager programNASA's twin Voyager probes launched in 1977, toured the outer planets, and now return data from interstellar space more than 21 billion kilometers away.
- Buzz AldrinBuzz Aldrin (born 1930) is an American astronaut and engineer who flew Gemini 12 and Apollo 11, becoming the second person to walk on the Moon in 1969.
- Elon MuskElon Musk (born 1971) is the founder, CEO, and chief engineer of SpaceX, leading its reusable rockets, Starlink, and Starship programs aimed at Mars.
- Katherine JohnsonKatherine Johnson (1918-2020) was a NASA mathematician whose trajectory calculations supported Mercury, Apollo 11, and Apollo 13, honored in Hidden Figures.
- Neil ArmstrongNeil Armstrong (1930-2012) was an American test pilot and NASA astronaut who commanded Apollo 11 and became the first person to walk on the Moon in 1969.
- Sally RideSally Ride (1951-2012) was a physicist and NASA astronaut who became the first American woman in space on STS-7 in 1983 and later led STEM education efforts.
- Valentina TereshkovaValentina Tereshkova (born 1937) is a Soviet cosmonaut who became the first woman in space aboard Vostok 6 in 1963 and remains the only woman to fly solo.
- Yuri GagarinYuri Gagarin (1934-1968) was a Soviet cosmonaut who became the first human in space on April 12, 1961, orbiting Earth once aboard Vostok 1 in 108 minutes.
- How rockets workHow rockets work: Newton's third law, the Tsiolkovsky rocket equation, staging, propellant types, engine cycles, and why orbit is about sideways speed.
- Mars colonizationMars colonization faces radiation, toxic dust, low gravity, and cost hurdles; SpaceX targets Starship landings and NASA pursues a Moon-first path.
- Orbital mechanicsOrbital mechanics explains how spacecraft move: Kepler's laws, delta-v budgets, Hohmann transfers, gravity assists, Lagrange points, and rendezvous.
- Reusable rocketsReusable launch vehicles recover and refly rocket stages: one Falcon 9 booster has flown 35 missions; New Glenn, Starship, and Zhuque-3 follow.
- Space debrisSpace debris includes over 40,000 tracked objects and millions of fragments; collisions and mega-constellations drive mitigation rules and cleanup missions.
- Space tourismSpace tourism began with Dennis Tito's 2001 ISS visit and now spans suborbital hops and private orbital missions, with prices from $750,000 to $70 million.
- The Space RaceThe Space Race was the 1955-1975 US-Soviet competition that produced Sputnik, Gagarin's flight, and the Apollo Moon landings before ending in detente.
- Asteroid beltThe asteroid belt is a sparse ring of rocky bodies between Mars and Jupiter, home to Ceres and Vesta and the source of most near-Earth asteroids.
- EuropaEuropa is Jupiter's fourth-largest moon, an ice-covered world with a global subsurface ocean targeted by NASA's Europa Clipper and ESA's Juice missions.
- MarsMars is the fourth planet from the Sun, a cold desert world with evidence of ancient water, explored today by six orbiters and two active NASA rovers.
- The MoonThe Moon is Earth's only natural satellite, shaped by a giant impact 4.5 billion years ago and now the focus of renewed crewed and robotic exploration.
- TitanTitan is Saturn's largest moon, with a thick nitrogen atmosphere, methane lakes, and a buried water ocean, and is the target of NASA's Dragonfly rotorcraft.
- VenusVenus is the second planet from the Sun, a runaway greenhouse world hot enough to melt lead, explored by Soviet landers and targeted by new missions.