History of spaceflight#NASA

File:STS-116 spacewalk 1.jpg dwarfed the then existing experience base for this activity, a hurdle called the "Wall of EVA."{{cite journal|last=Ragin Williams|first=Catherine|author2=Neesha Hosein|author3=Logan Goodson|author4=Laura A. Rochon|author5=Cassandra V. Miranda|date=May 2010|title=NASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center Roundup - Pictures in Time|url=http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/roundup/online/2010/0510.pdf|journal=The Space Center Roundup|access-date=15 December 2011}}]]

File:Noordung space station.jpg's The Problem of Space Travel (1929).]]

At the beginning of the 20th century, there was a burst of scientific investigation into interplanetary travel, inspired by fiction by writers such as Jules Verne (From the Earth to the Moon, Around the Moon) and H.G. Wells (The First Men in the Moon, The War of the Worlds).{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

The first realistic proposal for spaceflight was "Issledovanie Mirovikh Prostranstv Reaktivnimi Priborami", or "The Exploration of Cosmic Space by Means of Reaction Devices" by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, published in 1903.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g8PW0_WNTDsC&q=Noordung+space+station&pg=PA6|title=Walking in Space|first=David|last=Shayler|date=3 June 2004|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|page=4|access-date=19 January 2018|via=Google Books|isbn=9781852337100}}

Spaceflight became an engineering possibility with the work of Robert H. Goddard's publication in 1919 of his paper "A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes", where his application of the de Laval nozzle to liquid fuel rockets gave sufficient power for interplanetary travel to become possible. This paper was highly influential on Hermann Oberth and Wernher von Braun, later key players in spaceflight.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

In 1929, the Slovene officer Hermann Noordung was the first to imagine a complete space station in his book The Problem of Space Travel.{{Cite book |last=Baker |first=Philip |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DdgIMOmcG0wC&dq=Noordung+space+station&pg=PA2 |title=The Story of Manned Space Stations: An Introduction |date=2007-08-20 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-0-387-68488-8 |language=en}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g8PW0_WNTDsC&q=Noordung+space+station&pg=PA6|title=Walking in Space|first=David|last=Shayler|date=3 June 2004|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|page=6|access-date=19 January 2018|via=Google Books|isbn=9781852337100}}

The first rocket to reach space was the German V-2 rocket MW 18014, on a vertical test flight in June 1944.{{Cite book |last=Dornberger |first=Walter |title=Peenemünde |date=1984 |publisher=Moewig |isbn=978-3-8118-4341-7 |series=Moewig Dokumentation |location=Rastatt}} After the war ended, the research and development branch of the (British) Ordinance Office organised Operation Backfire which, in October 1945, assembled enough V-2 missiles and supporting components to enable the launch of three (possibly four, depending on source consulted) of them from a site near Cuxhaven in northern Germany. Although these launches were inclined and the rockets did not achieve the altitude necessary to be regarded as sub-orbital spaceflight, the Backfire report remains the most extensive technical documentation of the rocket, including all support procedures, tailored vehicles and fuel composition.{{Cite web |title=V2ROCKET.COM - Operation Backfire at Altenwalde/Cuxhaven |url=http://www.v2rocket.com/start/chapters/backfire.html |access-date=2024-05-30 |website=www.v2rocket.com}}

Subsequently, the British Interplanetary Society proposed an enlarged man-carrying version of the V-2 called Megaroc. The plan, written in 1946, envisaged a three-year development programme culminating in the launch of test pilot Eric Brown on a sub-orbital mission in 1949.{{cite web|title=How a Nazi rocket could have put a Briton in space|url=http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150824-how-a-nazi-rocket-could-have-put-a-briton-in-space|work=BBC|date=25 August 2015 |access-date=31 July 2017}}{{cite web|title=Megaroc|url=http://www.bis-space.com/what-we-do/projects/megaroc|work=BIS|access-date=31 July 2017|archive-date=30 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161030133900/http://www.bis-space.com/what-we-do/projects/megaroc|url-status=dead}}

The decision by the Ministry of Supply under Attlee's government to concentrate on research into nuclear power generation and sub-sonic passenger jet aircraft over supersonic atmospheric flight and spaceflight delayed the introduction of both of the latter, although only by a year in the case of supersonic flight, as the data from the Miles M.52 was handed to Bell Aircraft.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

In 1947, the US sent the first animals in space, fruit flies, although not into orbit, through a V-2 rocket launched from White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.[http://www.postwarv2.com/usa/ws/uars/uars20.html UPPER AIR ROCKET SUMMARY V-2 NO. 20] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715110530/http://www.postwarv2.com/usa/ws/uars/uars20.html |date=15 July 2011 }}. postwarv2.com{{cite web |url=https://history.nasa.gov/afspbio/part1.htm |title=The Beginnings of Research in Space Biology at the Air Force Missile Development Center, 1946–1952 |access-date=31 January 2008 |work=History of Research in Space Biology and Biodynamics |publisher=NASA| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080125044753/https://history.nasa.gov/afspbio/part1.htm| archive-date= 25 January 2008 | url-status= live}}{{cite web |url=http://www.wsmr.army.mil/pao/FactSheets/V2/v-2tab.htm |title=V-2 Firing Tables |access-date=31 January 2008 |publisher=White Sands Missile Range |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080125175018/http://www.wsmr.army.mil/pao/FactSheets/V2/v-2tab.htm |archive-date = 25 January 2008}} On June 14, 1949, the US launched the first mammal into space, a rhesus macaque monkey named Albert II, on a sub-orbital flight, though Albert II died when the parachute failed.{{cite web |title=Animals in space |url=https://www.space.com/animals-in-space |website=Space.com |access-date=12 June 2024 |language=en |date=27 January 2022}} On July 22, 1951, the Soviets launched the Soviet space dogs, Dezik and Tsygan, who were the first dogs in space and the first to safely return.{{cite book |last1=Siddiqi |first1=Asif|title= Challenge to Apollo: The Soviet Union and the Space Race, 1945–1974 |year=2000 |publisher=NASA |page=95 |url=https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/static/history/SP-4408pt1.pdf}}

{{Main|Space Race}}

{{Main|Sputnik 1}}

File:Sputnik asm.jpg on display.]]

The race began in 1957 when both the US and the USSR made statements announcing they planned to launch artificial satellites during the 18-month long International Geophysical Year of July 1957 to December 1958. On July 29, 1957, the US announced a planned launch of the Vanguard by the spring of 1958, and on July 31, the USSR announced it would launch a satellite in the fall of 1957.{{Cite web |title=Space race timeline {{!}} Royal Museums Greenwich |url=https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/space-race-timeline |access-date=2024-11-17 |website=www.rmg.co.uk |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Milestones: 1953–1960 |url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1953-1960/sputnik |website=history.state.go}}

File:Photograph of Sputnik 2 taken from Patrick AFB in March 1958.jpg

On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite of Earth in the history of humankind.

File:Explorer1.jpg

On November 3, 1957, the Soviet Union launched the second satellite, Sputnik 2, and the first to carry a living animal into orbit, a dog named Laika. Sputnik 3 was launched on May 15, 1958, and carried a large array of instruments for geophysical research and provided data on pressure and composition of the upper atmosphere, concentration of charged particles, photons in cosmic rays, heavy nuclei in cosmic rays, magnetic and electrostatic fields, and meteoric particles. After a series of failures with the program, the US succeeded with Explorer 1, which became the first US satellite in space, on February 1, 1958. This carried scientific instrumentation and detected the theorized Van Allen radiation belt.

The US public shock over Sputnik 1 became known as the Sputnik crisis. On July 29, 1958, the US Congress passed legislation turning the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) into the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) with responsibility for the nation's civilian space programs. In 1959, NASA began Project Mercury to launch single-man capsules into Earth orbit and chose a corps of seven astronauts introduced as the Mercury Seven.{{Cite web |title=The Success of Project Mercury |url=https://pillars.taylor.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1004&context=luxetfidesjournal |website=pillars.taylor.edu}}

{{main|Vostok programme}}

File:Gagarin in Sweden.jpg]]

On April 12, 1961, the USSR opened the era of crewed spaceflight, with the flight of the first cosmonaut (Russian name for space travelers), Yuri Gagarin. Gagarin's flight, part of the Soviet Vostok space exploration program, took 108 minutes and consisted of a single orbit of the Earth.{{cite web |url=http://records.fai.org/pilot.asp?from=astronautics&id=4791 |title=Aviation and Space World Records |access-date=March 12, 2009 |publisher=Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090726044621/http://records.fai.org/pilot.asp?from=astronautics&id=4791 |archive-date=July 26, 2009 |df=mdy-all }}

On August 7, 1961, Gherman Titov, another Soviet cosmonaut, became the second man in orbit during his Vostok 2 mission. Titov orbited Earth 17 times in over 25 hours during his spaceflight.{{cite journal |date=17 August 1961 |title=The First Day In Orbit |journal=Flight |issue=2736 |volume=80 |page=208 |publisher=Iliffe Transport Publications |location=London |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1961/1961%20-%201106.html |format=PDF |access-date=2009-03-12 |archive-date=2019-06-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190603164742/https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1961/1961%20-%201106.html |url-status=dead }}

By June 16, 1963, the USSR launched a total of six Vostok cosmonauts, two pairs of them flying concurrently, and accumulating a total of 260 cosmonaut-orbits and just over sixteen cosmonaut-days in space.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

On May 5, 1961, the US launched its first suborbital Mercury astronaut, Alan Shepard, in the Freedom 7 capsule.{{cite book|last1=Swenson|first1=Loyd S. Jr.|first2=James M.|last2=Grimwood|first3=Charles C.|last3=Alexander|title=This New Ocean: A History of Project Mercury|url=http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4201/cover.htm|access-date=June 28, 2007|series=The NASA History Series|year=1966|publisher=National Aeronautics and Space Administration|location=Washington, DC|oclc=569889|id=NASA SP-4201|archive-date=June 17, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100617075825/http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4201/cover.htm|url-status=dead}}{{cite web |title=My steps for Bataan |url=https://www.marines.mil/News/News-Display/Article/581909/my-steps-for-bataan/ |website=United States Marine Corps Flagship |access-date=13 April 2022}}

{{Further|Women in space}}

File:Valentina Tereshkova, world's first woman astronaut, from RIAN archives.jpg]]

The first woman in space was former civilian parachutist Valentina Tereshkova, who entered orbit on June 16, 1963, aboard the Soviet mission Vostok 6. The chief Soviet spacecraft designer, Sergey Korolyov, conceived of the idea to recruit a female cosmonaut corps and launch two women concurrently on Vostok 5/6. However, his plan was changed to launch a male first in Vostok 5, followed shortly afterward by Tereshkova. The then first secretary of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev, spoke to Tereshkova by radio during her flight.{{Cite book|last=Gatland|first=Kenneth|title=Manned Spacecraft|publisher=MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc.|edition=Second revision|year=1976|location=New York|pages=125–126|isbn=978-0-02-542820-1}}

On November 3, 1963, Tereshkova married fellow cosmonaut Andrian Nikolayev, who had previously flown on Vostok 3.Gatland (1976), p. 123. On June 8, 1964, she gave birth to the first child conceived by two space travelers.Gatland (1976), p. 129. The couple divorced in 1982, and Tereshkova went on to become a prominent member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.{{cite web |last1=Lea |first1=Robert |title=Valentina Tereshkova: First Woman in Space |url=https://www.space.com/21571-valentina-tereshkova.html |website=Space.com |access-date=13 June 2024 |language=en |date=22 January 2018}}

The second woman to fly to space was aviator Svetlana Savitskaya, aboard Soyuz T-7 on August 18, 1982.{{cite web|url=http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/cosmonauts/english/savitskaya_svetlana.htm|title=Cosmonaut Biography: Svetlana Savitskaya|first=Joachim|last=Becker|website=www.SpaceFacts.de|access-date=19 January 2018}}

Khrushchev pressured Korolyov to quickly produce greater space achievements in competition with the announced Gemini and Apollo plans. Rather than allowing him to develop his plans for a crewed Soyuz spacecraft, he was forced to make modifications to squeeze two or three men into the Vostok capsule, calling the result Voskhod. Only two of these were launched. Voskhod 1 was the first spacecraft with a crew of three, who could not wear space suits because of size and weight constrictions. Alexei Leonov made the first spacewalk when he left the Voskhod 2 on March 8, 1965. He was almost lost in space when he had extreme difficulty fitting his inflated space suit back into the cabin through an airlock, and a landing error forced him and Voskhod 2 crewmate Pavel Belyayev to be lost in dense woods for hours before being found by the recovery crew and rescued days later.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

The start of crewed Gemini missions was delayed a year later than NASA had planned, but ten largely successful missions were launched in 1965 and 1966, allowing the US to overtake the Soviet lead by achieving space rendezvous (Gemini 6A) and docking (Gemini 8) of two vehicles, long duration flights of eight days (Gemini 5) and fourteen days (Gemini 7), and demonstrating the use of extra-vehicular activity to do useful work outside a spacecraft (Gemini 12).{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

The USSR made no crewed flights during this period but continued to develop its Soyuz craft and secretly accepted Kennedy's implicit lunar challenge, designing Soyuz variants for lunar orbit and landing. They also attempted to develop the N1, a large, crewed Moon-capable launch vehicle similar to the US Saturn V.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

As both nations rushed to get their new spacecraft flying with men, the intensity of the competition caught up to them in early 1967, when they suffered their first crew fatalities. On January 27, the entire crew of Apollo 1, "Gus" Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee, were killed by suffocation in a fire that swept through their cabin during a ground test approximately one month before their planned launch. On April 24, the single pilot of Soyuz 1, Vladimir Komarov, was killed in a crash when his landing parachutes tangled, after a mission cut short by electrical and control system problems. Both accidents were determined to be caused by design defects in the spacecraft, which were corrected before crewed flights resumed.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

On February 12, 1961, the Soviet spacecraft Venera 1 was the first flyby probe launched to another planet. However communications with the probe failed before it could complete its mission.{{Cite web |title=Venera 1 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1961-003A |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}} Venera 3, which also lost contact, marked the first time a man-made object made contact with another planet after it impacted Venus on March 1, 1966.{{Cite web |title=Venera 3 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1965-092A |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}} Venera 4, Venera 5, and Venera 6 performed successful atmospheric entry.

In 1970 Venera 7 marked the first time a spacecraft was able to return data after landing on another planet.{{Cite web |title=Venera missions |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/venera.html |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}{{Cite web |title=Venera 7 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1970-060A |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}} In 1972, Venera 8 landed on Venus and measured the light level as being suitable for surface photography.{{Cite web |title=Venera 8 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1972-021A |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}} In 1975, Venera 9 established an orbit around Venus and successfully returned the first photography of the surface of Venus.{{Cite web |title=Venera 9 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1975-050A |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}} Venera 10 landed on Venus and followed with further photography shortly after.{{Cite web |title=Venera 10 lander |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/html/object_page/v10_lander_proc.html |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}

In 1981, Venera 13 performed a successful soft-landing on Venus and marked the first probe to drill into the surface of another planet and take a sample. Venera 13 also took an audio sample of the Venusian environment, marking another first.{{Cite web |title=Venera 10 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1981-106D |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}{{Cite web |title=Surface of Venus |url=https://pages.uoregon.edu/jschombe/ast121/lectures/surface_venus.html |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=pages.uoregon.edu}}{{Cite web |title=Drilling into the Surface of Venus |url=http://mentallandscape.com/V_Venera11.htm |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=mentallandscape.com}}

Venera 13 returned the first color images of the surface of Venus, revealing an orange-brown flat bedrock surface covered with loose regolith and small flat thin angular rocks. The composition of the sample determined by the X-ray fluorescence spectrometer put it in the class of weakly differentiated melanocratic alkaline gabbroids, similar to terrestrial leucitic basalt with a high potassium content. The acoustic detector returned the sounds of the spacecraft operations and the background wind, estimated to be a speed of around 0.5 m/sec wind. Venera 14 followed suit in an identical mission profile.

In total, 10 Venera probes achieved a soft landing on the surface of Venus.

In 1984, the Vega programme began and ended with the launch of two crafts launched 6 days apart, Vega 1 and Vega 2. Both crafts deployed a balloon in addition to a lander, marking a first in spaceflight.{{Cite web |title=Vega 2 |url=https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/vega-2/in-depth/ |website=solarsystem.nasa.gov|date=23 May 2023 }}{{Cite web |title=Vega 2 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1984-128A |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}{{Cite web |title=Vega 1 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1984-125A |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}

The first successful flyby Venus probe was the American Mariner 2 spacecraft, which flew past Venus in 1962, coming within 35,000 km. A modified Ranger Moon probe, it established that Venus has practically no intrinsic magnetic field and measured the temperature of the planet's atmosphere to be approximately 500 °C (773 K; 932 °F).{{Cite web |title=Mariner 2 - NASA |url=https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/mariner-2/ |access-date=2024-11-17 |language=en-US}}

{{Expand section|date=November 2024}}File:Apollo 11 first step.jpg climbing down Lunar Module Eagle's ladder to take the first step onto the Moon (Apollo 11, 1969).]]The US conducted the first crewed spaceflight to leave Earth orbit and orbit the Moon on December 21, 1968, with the Apollo 8 space mission. Later they succeeded in achieving President Kennedy's goal on July 20, 1969, with the landing of Apollo 11. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to set foot on the Moon. Six such successful landings were achieved through 1972, with one failure on Apollo 13.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

The first three Apollo missions to land astronauts on the Moon, Apollo 11, 12, and 14, did not enable exploration of a large portion of the lunar surface.{{cite book |last1=Swift |first1=Earl |title=Across the Airless Wilds: The Lunar Rover and the Triumph of the Final Moon Landings |date=2021 |publisher=Custom House |location=New York, NY |pages=15–16.}} Apollo 14 featured the longest journey on foot undertaken by the lunar explorers, with Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell bringing a cart called a Modular Equipment Transporter (MET) to help with sampling of moon rocks, but the men did not quite reach their intended destination of the Cone Crater.Swift, pp. 10-14. However, the last three Apollo missions, Apollo 15, 16, and 17, featured the lunar rover, which enabled longer and farther exploration by the astronauts on those flights. The astronauts on the last three Apollo missions drove over 56 miles around the lunar surface using the rovers, and were able to collect 620 pounds of moon rocks, three quarters of the total collected during the Apollo missions.Swift, pp. 16-17. More crewed moon landings were planned, all the way through Apollo 20, but after the loss of public interest following Apollo 11 (which contributed to a shrinking budget for NASA) and the near catastrophe of Apollo 13, three Apollo missions were canceled.Swift, pp. 208-209.

The N1 rocket suffered four catastrophic uncrewed launch failures between 1969 and 1972, and the Soviet government officially discontinued its crewed lunar program on June 24, 1974, when Valentin Glushko succeeded Korolyov as General Spacecraft Designer.{{cite book |last=Siddiqi |first=Asif |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?Ntk=all&Ntx=mode%20matchall&Ntt=SP-2000-4408 |title=Challenge To Apollo The Soviet Union and The Space Race, 1945-1974 |publisher=NASA |page=832}}

{{multiple image

| title = Move to cooperation

| align = right

| direction = horizontal

| image1 = Portrait of ASTP crews - restoration.jpg

| alt1 = Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP, 1975), first docking between the two competitor states, testing shared docking systems enabling future cooperation programs away from the competition.Both the Apollo 11 Moon landing and the ASTP have been identified as the end of the Space Race,{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K751AwAAQBAJ&pg=PT747|title=Encyclopedia of United States National Security |isbn=978-0-7619-2927-7 |publisher=SAGE Publications |editor-first=Richard J. |editor-last=Samuels |editor-link=Richard J. Samuels |edition=1st |year=2005 |page=669 |quote=Most observers felt that the U.S. moon landing ended the space race with a decisive American victory. […] The formal end of the space race occurred with the 1975 joint Apollo-Soyuz mission, in which U.S. and Soviet spacecraft docked, or joined, in orbit while their crews visited one another's craft and performed joint scientific experiments.}}

| caption1 = Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP, 1975), first docking between the two competitor states, testing shared docking systems enabling future cooperation programs away from the competition.

| image2 = Atlantis docked to MIR - GPN-2000-001315.jpg

| alt2 = Space Shuttle (US) docked to Mir (USSR/Russia) (1995), both products of the ending competition, joined in the Shuttle-Mir program (1993–1998) which facilitated the ongoing International Space Station programme.

| caption2 = Space Shuttle (US) docked to Mir (USSR/Russia) (1995), both products of the ending competition, joined in the Shuttle-Mir program (1993–1998) which facilitated the ongoing International Space Station programme.

}}

Both nations went on to fly relatively small, non-permanent crewed space laboratories Salyut and Skylab, using their Soyuz and Apollo craft as shuttles. The US launched only one Skylab, but the USSR launched a total of seven "Salyuts", three of which were secretly Almaz military crewed reconnaissance stations, which carried a cannon (possibly to test for potential use in space warfare).{{Cite web |date=2021-04-19 |title=50 Years Ago: Launch of Salyut, the World's First Space Station - NASA |url=https://www.nasa.gov/missions/station/50-years-ago-launch-of-salyut-the-worlds-first-space-station/ |access-date=2024-11-21 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Russia's early space stations (1969-1985) |url=https://russianspaceweb.com/spacecraft_manned_salyut.html |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=russianspaceweb.com}} Crewed reconnaissance stations were found to be a bad idea since uncrewed satellites could do the job much more cost-effectively. The United States Air Force had planned a crewed reconnaissance station, the Manned Orbital Laboratory, which was cancelled in 1969. The Soviets cancelled Almaz in 1978.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

In a season of detente, the two competitors declared an end to the race and literally shook hands on July 17, 1975, with the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, where the two craft docked, and the crews exchanged visits.

File:ISS Agreements.jpg for the International Space Station, signed on 28 January 1998 and symbolic for the increasing diversification and internationalization of spaceflight since its beginning]]

The participation of private actors and other countries beside the Soviet Union and the United States in spaceflight had been the case from the very start of spaceflight development. A first commercial satellite had been launched by 1962, as well as in 1965 a third country achieving orbital spaceflight. The very beginning of the space age, the launch of Sputnik, was in the context of international exchange, the International Geophysical Year 1957. Also, soon into the space age the international community came together starting to negotiate dedicated international law governing outer space activity.

In the 1970s the Soviet Union started to invite other countries to fly their people into space through its Intercosmos program and the United States started to include women and people of colour in its astronaut program.

First exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union was formalized in the 1962 Dryden-Blagonravov agreement, calling for cooperation on the exchange of data from weather satellites, a study of the Earth's magnetic field, and joint tracking of the NASA Echo II balloon satellite.{{cite web|title=The First Dryden-Blagonravov Agreement – 1962|url=https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4209/ch2-3.htm|website=NASA History Series|publisher=NASA|access-date=14 March 2019|archive-date=1 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801185734/https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4209/ch2-3.htm|url-status=dead}} {{PD-notice}} In 1963 President Kennedy could even interest premier Khrushchev in a joint crewed Moon landing,{{cite journal | last=Launius | first=Roger D. | title=First Moon landing was nearly a US–Soviet mission | journal=Nature | volume=571 | issue=7764 | date=2019-07-10 | doi=10.1038/d41586-019-02088-4 | pages=167–168 | pmid=31292553 | bibcode=2019Natur.571..167L | s2cid=195873630 | doi-access=free }}{{cite news |title=Soviets Planned to Accept JFK's Joint Lunar Mission Offer |first=Frank |last=Sietzen |url=http://www.spacedaily.com/news/russia-97h.html |agency=SpaceCast News Service |work=SpaceDaily |date=October 2, 1997 |access-date=August 1, 2013}} but after the assassination of Kennedy in November 1963 and Khrushchev's removal from office in October 1964, the competition between the two nations' crewed space programs heated up, and talk of cooperation became less common, due to tense relations and military implications. Only later the United States and the Soviet Union slowly started to exchange more information and engage in joint programs, particularly in the light of the development of safety standards since 1970,{{cite web|url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4402/ch4.htm|title=Origins of NASA Names: Manned SpaceFlight|author1=Helen T. Wells |author2=Susan H. Whiteley |author3=Carrie E. Karegeannes |date=1975|publisher=NASA|access-date=2 November 2015}} producing the co-developed APAS-75 and later docking standards. Most notably this signaled the ending of the first era of the space age, the Space Race, through the Apollo-Soyuz mission which became the basis for the Shuttle-Mir program and eventually the International Space Station programme.

Such international cooperation, and international spaceflight organization was furthermore fueled by increasingly more countries achieving spaceflight capabilies and together with a by the 1980s established private spaceflight sector, both being embodied by the European Space Agency. This allowed the formation of an international and commercial post-Space Race spaceflight economy and period, with by the 1990s a public perception of space exploration and space-related technologies as being increasingly commonplace.{{Cite book|last=NASA|url=https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/historical-studies-societal-impact-spaceflight-ebook_tagged.pdf|title=Historical Studies in the Societal Impact of Spaceflight - NASA}}

This increasingly cooperative diversification persisted until competition started to rise in the diversified conditions, from the 2010s and particularly by the early 2020s.

File:Falcon Heavy Side Boosters landing on LZ1 and LZ2 - 2018 (25254688767).jpg's Falcon Heavy reusable side boosters land in unison at Cape Canaveral Landing Zones 1 and 2 following test flight on 6 February 2018.]]{{Expand section|date=November 2024}}

Starting in the 2010s the diversified spaceflight sector had become by the 2020s increasingly competitive with returning inter-national competition and cooperation barrieres, like a cooperation ban enacted in the United States on China in 2011 and later the European Space Agency banning Russia,{{cite web | last=Posaner | first=Joshua | title=Russia's war in Ukraine upends Europe's space plans | website=POLITICO | date=2022-09-23 | url=https://www.politico.eu/article/russia-war-ukraine-european-space-agency-josef-aschbacher/ | access-date=2023-09-28}} and increased private competition in spaceflight capabilities, enabled by the Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act of 2015.

Some have called it a New Space Race period,{{cite web | title=The new space race: a high-stakes competition of politics and power | website=Royal Museums Greenwich | url=https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/new-space-race-astropolitics-power-21st-century | access-date=2023-09-28}} particularly in light of China's speedy advances and other Asian countries competing in advancing their spaceflight achievements, creating an Asian Space Race.{{cite web | last=Sheldon | first=John | title=The New Asian Space Race | website=SpaceWatch.Global | date=2016-07-17 | url=https://spacewatch.global/2016/07/new-asian-space-race/ | access-date=2023-09-28}} Although international cooperation and international private spaceflight remains an integral part of the sector, there is competitively diversifying commercial international contracting, such as international private human spaceflight of e.g. Axiom Space in cooperation with different countries and heavily relying on the International Space Station, which also continued operation despite international confrontations like the Russian invasion of Ukraine, while private spaceflight, with Space-X's Starlink, became a significant element in the war and international politics.

Meanwhile, a range of new lunar spaceflight programs are being advanced especially as international programs, from the Artemis program and the China-Russian plans to establish a lunar base, to the European Space Agency planned Moon Village.

This competitive but international commercial development of the spaceflight sector has been called New Space.{{cite web | title=How the War in Ukraine is Changing the Space Game | website=IFRI | date=2018-05-25 | url=https://www.ifri.org/en/publications/notes-de-lifri/how-war-ukraine-changing-space-game | access-date=2023-09-28}}

{{see also|List of space programs of the United States}}

Until the 21st century, space programs of the United States were exclusively operated by government agencies. In the 21st century, several aerospace companies began efforts at developing a private space industry, with SpaceX being the most successful so far.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

{{excerpt|NASA|only=paragraphs|paragraphs=1}}

{{reflist|group=note}}

{{main|Project Mercury}}

Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States, running from 1958 through 1963. Its goal was to put a person into Earth orbit and return them safely, ideally before the Soviet Union. John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth on February 20, 1962, aboard the Mercury-Atlas 6.{{cite web|title=Mercury MA-11|url=http://www.astronautix.com/flights/meryma11.htm|publisher=Encyclopedia Astronauticax|access-date=22 June 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130823192237/http://www.astronautix.com/flights/meryma11.htm|archive-date=August 23, 2013|df=mdy-all}}

File:Gemini VIII Docking.jpg

{{main|Project Gemini}}

Project Gemini was NASA's second human spaceflight program. The program ran from 1961 to 1966. The program pioneered the orbital maneuvers required for space rendezvous.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/5-8/features/nasa-knows/what-was-gemini-program-58.html|title=What Was the Gemini Program?|last=MSFC|first=Jennifer Wall|date=2015-02-23|work=NASA|access-date=2018-04-04|language=en}} Ed White became the first American to make an extravehicular activity (EVA, or "space walk"), on June 3, 1965, during Gemini 4.{{Cite web|url=https://history.nasa.gov/Apollo204/zorn/white.htm|title=Detailed Biographies of Apollo I Crew - Ed White|last=White|first=Mary C.|publisher=NASA History Program Office|access-date=April 4, 2018}} Gemini 6A and 7 accomplished the first space rendezvous on December 15, 1965.{{Cite news|url=https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/world%E2%80%99s-first-space-rendezvous|title=The World's First Space Rendezvous|date=2015-12-15|work=National Air and Space Museum|access-date=2018-04-04|language=en}} Gemini 8 achieved the first space docking with an uncrewed Agena Target Vehicle on March 16, 1966. Gemini 8 was also the first US spacecraft to experience in-space critical failure endangering the lives of the crew.{{Cite web|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1966-020A|title=NASA - NSSDCA - Spacecraft - Details|website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov|access-date=2018-04-04}}

{{main|Apollo program}}

The Apollo program was the third human spaceflight program carried out by NASA. The program's goal was to orbit and land crewed vehicles on the Moon.{{cite AV media |people=Kennedy, John F. |date=May 25, 1961 |title=Special Message to Congress on Urgent National Needs |medium=Motion picture (excerpt) |url=http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/xzw1gaeeTES6khED14P1Iw.aspx |access-date=August 1, 2013 |publisher=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum |location=Boston, MA |id=Accession Number: TNC:200; Digital Identifier: TNC-200-2}} The program ran from 1969 to 1972. Apollo 8 was the first human spaceflight to leave Earth orbit and orbit the Moon on December 21, 1968.Brooks, et al. 1979{{Broken anchor|date=2024-06-12|bot=User:Cewbot/log/20201008/configuration|target_link=#Brooks, et al.|reason= }}, Chapter 11.6: [http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4205/ch11-6.html "Apollo 8: The First Lunar Voyage"]. pp. 274-284. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to set foot on the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission on July 20, 1969.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/stories/first-person-on-moon.html|title=NASA - The First Person on the Moon|website=www.nasa.gov|date=28 August 2012 |language=en|access-date=2023-01-08}}

{{main|Skylab}}

The Skylab program's goal was to create the first space station of NASA. The program marked the last launch of the Saturn V rocket on May 14, 1973. Many experiments were performed on board, including unprecedented solar studies.{{cite web |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19730025115.pdf |title=SATURN V LAUNCH VEHICLE FLIGHT EVALUATION REPORT SA-513 SKYLAB 1 |work=NASA |date=1973 |access-date=2016-05-29 }} The longest crewed mission of the program was Skylab 4 which lasted 84 days, from November 16, 1973, to February 8, 1974.{{harvp|Benson|Compton|1983|p=340|ps=.}} The total mission duration was 2249 days, with Skylab finally falling from orbit over Australia on July 11, 1979.{{harvp|Benson|Compton|1983|p=371|ps=.}}

File:Space Shuttle Columbia launching.jpg seconds after engine ignition during STS-1, 1981.]]

{{main|Space Shuttle}}

Although its pace slowed, space exploration continued after the end of the Space Race. The United States launched the first reusable spacecraft, the Space Shuttle, on the 20th anniversary of Gagarin's flight, April 12, 1981. On November 15, 1988, the Soviet Union duplicated this with an uncrewed flight of the only Buran-class shuttle to fly, its first and only reusable spacecraft. It was never used again after the first flight; instead, the Soviet Union continued to develop space stations using the Soyuz craft as the crew shuttle.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

Sally Ride became the first American woman in space in 1983. Eileen Collins was the first female Shuttle pilot, and with Shuttle mission STS-93 in July 1999 she became the first woman to command a US spacecraft.The United States continued missions to the ISS and other goals with the high-cost Shuttle system, which was retired in 2011.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

{{excerpt|Soviet space program|only=paragraphs|paragraphs=1}}

{{main|Sputnik}}

The Sputnik 1 became the first artificial Earth satellite on 4 October 1957. The satellite transmitted a radio signal, but had no sensors otherwise.{{cite web |url=http://www.arrl.org/news/features/2007/09/28/03/?nc=1 |title=Sputnik and Amateur Radio |date=28 September 2007 |publisher=American Radio Relay League |author=Ralph H. Didlake |author2=Oleg P. Odinets |access-date=26 March 2008 | others=Call sign Didlake KK5PM, Odinets RA3DNC |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011045828/http://www.arrl.org/news/features/2007/09/28/03/?nc=1 |archive-date=11 October 2007}} Studying the Sputnik 1 allowed scientists to calculate the drag from the upper atmosphere by measuring position and speed of the satellite.{{Cite web|url=http://www.arrl.org/pages/display/error404|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011023458/http://www.arrl.org/news/features/2007/09/28/03/|url-status=dead|title=American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources|archive-date=October 11, 2007|website=www.arrl.org}} Sputnik 1 broadcast for 21 days until its batteries depleted on 4 October 1957, and the satellite finally fell from orbit on 4 January 1958.{{cite web |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1957-001B |title=Sputnik 1 – NSSDC ID: 1957-001B |work=NSSDC Master Catalog |publisher=NASA}}

{{main|Luna programme}}

The Luna programme was a series of uncrewed robotic satellite launches with the goal of studying the Moon. The program ran from 1959 to 1976 and consisted of 15 successful missions; the program achieved many first achievements and collected data on the Moon's chemical composition, gravity, temperature, and radiation. Luna 2 became the first human-made object to make contact with the Moon's surface in September 1959.{{Cite web|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1959-014A|title=NASA - NSSDCA - Spacecraft - Details|website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov|access-date=2018-04-27}} Luna 3 returned the first photographs of the far side of the Moon in October 1959.{{Cite web|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1959-008A|title=NASA - NSSDCA - Spacecraft - Details|website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov|access-date=2018-04-27}}

File:Vostok-2M (8A292M) in Korolyov, Moscow Oblast.jpg

{{main|Vostok programme}}

The Vostok Programme was the first Soviet spaceflight project to put Soviet citizens into low Earth orbit and return them safely. The programme carried out six crewed spaceflights between 1961 and 1963. The program was the first program to put humans into space, with Yuri Gagarin becoming the first man in space on April 12, 1961, aboard the Vostok 1.{{Cite web|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1961-012A|title=NASA - NSSDCA - Spacecraft - Trajectory Details|website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov|access-date=2018-04-27}} Gherman Titov became the first person to stay in orbit for a full day on August 7, 1961, aboard the Vostok 2.{{Cite web|url=http://www.russianspaceweb.com/vostok2.html|title=Vostok-2 mission|website=www.russianspaceweb.com|access-date=2018-04-27}} Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space on June 16, 1963, aboard the Vostok 6.{{Cite web|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1963-023A|title=NASA - NSSDCA - Spacecraft - Details|website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov|access-date=2018-04-27}}

{{main|Voskhod programme}}

The Voskhod programme began in 1964 and consisted of two crewed flights before the program was canceled by the Soyuz programme in 1966. Voskhod 1 launched on October 12, 1964, and was the first crewed spaceflight with a multi-crewed vehicle.{{Cite web|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1964-065A|title=NASA - NSSDCA - Spacecraft - Details|website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov|access-date=2018-04-27}} Alexei Leonov performed the first spacewalk aboard Voskhod 2 on March 18, 1965.{{Cite web|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1965-022A|title=NASA - NSSDCA - Spacecraft - Details|website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov|access-date=2018-04-27}}

{{main|Salyut}}

The Salyut programme was the first space station program undertaken by the Soviet Union.{{Cite web|url=https://www.russianspaceweb.com/almaz.html|title=The Almaz program|website=www.russianspaceweb.com}} The goal was to carry out long-term research into the problems of living in space and a variety of astronomical, biological and Earth-resources experiments. The program ran from 1971 to 1986. Salyut 1, the first station in the program, became the world's first crewed space station.{{cite book |author=Baker, Philip |title=The Story of Manned Space Stations: an introduction |publisher=Springer |location=Berlin |year=2007 |page=[https://archive.org/details/storyofmannedspa0000bake/page/25 25] |isbn=978-0-387-30775-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/storyofmannedspa0000bake|url-access=registration |quote=The story of manned space stations: an introduction. }}

{{main|Soyuz programme}}

The Soyuz programme was initiated by the soviet space program in the 1960s and continues as the responsibility of roscosmos to this day. The program currently consists of 140 completed flights, and since the retirement of the US Space Shuttle has been the only craft to transport humans. The program's original goal was part of a program to put a cosmonaut on the Moon and later became crucial to the construction of the Mir space station.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

{{excerpt|Mir|paragraphs=1,2}}

{{excerpt|Buran programme|only=paragraphs|paragraphs=1}}

File:STS-134 International Space Station after undocking.jpg

{{main|International Space Station}}

Recent space exploration has proceeded, to some extent in worldwide cooperation, the high point of which was the construction and operation of the International Space Station (ISS). At the same time, the international space race between smaller space powers since the end of the 20th century can be considered the foundation and expansion of markets of commercial rocket launches and space tourism.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

The United States continued other space exploration, including major participation with the ISS with its own modules. It also planned a set of uncrewed Mars probes, military satellites, and more. The Constellation program, began by President George W. Bush in 2005, aimed to launch the Orion spacecraft by 2018. A subsequent return to the Moon by 2020 was to be followed by crewed flights to Mars, but the program was canceled in 2010 in favor of encouraging commercial US human launch capabilities.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

Russia, a successor to the Soviet Union, has high potential but smaller funding. Its own space programs, some of a military nature, perform several functions. They offer a wide commercial launch service while continuing to support the ISS with several of their own modules. They also operate crewed and cargo spacecraft which continued after the US Shuttle program ended. They are developing a new multi-function Orel spacecraft for use in 2020 and have plans to perform human Moon missions as well.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

{{main|ESA}}

The European Space Agency has taken the lead in commercial uncrewed launches since the introduction of the Ariane 4 in 1988 but is in competition with NASA, Russia, Sea Launch (private), China, India, and others. The ESA-designed crewed shuttle Hermes and space station Columbus were under development in the late 1980s in Europe; however, these projects were canceled, and Europe did not become the third major "space power".{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

The European Space Agency has launched various satellites, has utilized the crewed Spacelab module aboard US shuttles, and has sent probes to comets and Mars. It also participates in ISS with its own module and the uncrewed cargo spacecraft ATV.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

Currently, ESA has a program for the development of an independent multi-function crewed spacecraft CSTS scheduled for completion in 2018. Further goals include an ambitious plan called the Aurora Programme, which intends to send a human mission to Mars soon after 2030. A set of various landmark missions to reach this goal are currently under consideration. The ESA has a multi-lateral partnership and plans for spacecraft and further missions with foreign participation and co-funding.

ESA is also developing the Galileo program which seeks to give independence to the EU from the American GPS.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

{{Main|Chinese space program}}

File:长征五号遥二火箭转场.jpg heavy-lifted rocket of China]]

File:Maquette d'un vaisseau Shenzhou.jpg, China's crewed spacecraft.]]

Since 1956 the Chinese have had a space program which was aided early on from 1957 to 1960 by the Soviets. "Dong Fang Hong I" was launched on 24 April 1970 and was the first satellite to be launched by the Chinese. With increased economic and technological strength in the following decades, especially since the early 21st century, China has made significant achievements in many aspects of space activities. It has developed a sizable family of Long March rockets, including Long March 5, the launch vehicle with the highest payload capacity in Asia {{As of|since=y|2016|lc=y}}. China launched more than 140 spaceflights between 2015 and 2020.{{cite web|url=https://scroll.in/article/986098/in-the-new-space-race-to-mars-china-is-hellbent-on-beating-india-and-others |title=In the new space race to Mars, China is hellbent on beating India and others |website=Scroll |first=Steffi |last=Paladini |date=10 February 2021}} China is operating multiple satellite systems, including communication, Earth imaging, weather forecast, ocean monitoring. BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, the satellite navigation system developed, launched, and operated by China, is one of the four core system providers of the International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems.{{cite web|title=International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (ICG): Members|url=https://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/icg/members.html|access-date=20 May 2021}}

The US Pentagon released a report in 2006, detailing concerns about China's growing presence in space, including its capability for military action.[http://www.space.com/news/060605_china_military.html "Report: China's Military Space Power Growing"] by Leonard David, Space.com, June 5, 2006, Accessed June 8, 2006. In 2007 China tested a ballistic missile designed to destroy satellites in orbit, which was followed by a US demonstration of a similar capability in 2008.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

{{Main|China Manned Space Program}}

The China Manned Space Program, China's human spaceflight program, began in 1992. Following Shenzhou 5, the first successful crewed spaceflight mission in 2003 which made China the third country with independent human spaceflight capability, China has developed critical capabilities including EVA, space docking and berthing and space station.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}} The Tiangong space station, China's modular orbital station, became fully operational in November 2022 and has been continuously manned since then. It consists of three main modules: the Tianhe core module (launched in April 2021), Wentian module (July 2022), and Mengtian module (October 2022).{{Cite web |last1=Jones |first1=Andrew |last2=updated |first2=Daisy Dobrijevic last |date=2021-08-24 |title=China's space station, Tiangong: A complete guide |url=https://www.space.com/tiangong-space-station |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=Space.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Tiangong, China's space station |url=https://www.planetary.org/space-missions/chinese-space-station |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=The Planetary Society |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Jones |first=Andrew |date=2023-10-04 |title=China to send new modules and co-orbiting spacecraft to Tiangong space station |url=https://spacenews.com/china-to-send-new-modules-and-co-orbiting-spacecraft-to-tiangong-space-station/ |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=SpaceNews |language=en-US}}

The station conducts scientific experiments include testing materials for lunar habitats and studying biological changes in microgravity, contributing to China's ambitions for a lunar research base by the 2030s. The station is designed to remain operational for at least a decade, with plans to expand it to six modules and host the Xuntian space telescope in the future.{{Cite web |last=Jones |first=Andrew |date=2024-11-15 |title=Tianzhou-8 spacecraft delivers supplies, key experiments to Tiangong space station |url=https://spacenews.com/tianzhou-8-spacecraft-delivers-supplies-key-experiments-to-tiangong-space-station/ |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=SpaceNews |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=updated |first=Andrew Jones last |date=2024-11-14 |title=China launches Tianzhou 8 cargo mission to Tiangong space station (video) |url=https://www.space.com/china-tianzhou-8-cargo-launch-tiangong-space-station |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=Space.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |last= |date=2023-10-06 |title=China to double size of its space station as it offers an alternative to NASA-led ISS |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/06/china/china-space-station-double-size-intl-hnk-scn/index.html |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=CNN |language=en}}

{{Main|Chinese Lunar Exploration Program}}

As the first step of distance outer space exploration, the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program was approved in 2004. It launched two lunar orbiters: Chang'e 1 and Chang'e 2 in 2007 and 2010 respectively. On 14 December 2013, China successfully soft-landed Chang'e 3 Moon lander and its rover Yutu on the Moon's surface, becoming the first Asian country to do so. This was followed by Chang'e 4, the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon, in 2019 and Chang'e 5, the first lunar sample return mission conducted by an Asian country, in 2020, marking the completion of the three goals (orbiting, landing, returning) of the first stage of the program. Starting from Chang'e 6, China wants to advance its plans in making a permanent International Lunar Research Station on the Moon.

{{Main|Planetary Exploration of China}}

China began its first interplanetary exploration attempt in 2011 by sending Yinghuo-1, a Mars orbiter, in a joint mission with Russia. Yet it failed to leave Earth orbit due to the failure of the Russian launch vehicle.{{cite news|title= Programming glitch, not radiation or satellites, doomed Phobos-Grunt|url= https://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-02/07/phobos-grunt-programming-glitch |date= 7 February 2012|access-date= 26 February 2012|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120210215018/http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-02/07/phobos-grunt-programming-glitch|archive-date = 10 February 2012 |url-status = dead|df = dmy-all}} As a result, the Chinese space agency then embarked on its independent Mars mission. In July 2020, China launched Tianwen-1, which included an orbiter, a lander, and a rover, on a Long March 5 rocket to Mars. Tianwen-1 was inserted into Mars orbit on 10 February 2021, followed by a successful landing and deployment of the Zhurong rover on 14 May 2021, making China the second country in the world which successfully soft-landed a fully operational spacecraft on Mars surface.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

Emmanuel Macron announced on 13 July 2019 the project to create a military command specialising in space, which would be based in Toulouse.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

This command should be operational in September 2020 within the Air Force to become the Air and Space Force. Its purpose will be to strengthen France's space power in order to defend its satellites and deepen its knowledge of space. It will also aim to compete with other nations in this new place of strategic confrontation.{{cite web | url=https://www.liberation.fr/france/2019/07/13/la-france-va-se-doter-d-un-commandement-de-l-espace_1739886 | title=La France va se doter d'un "commandement de l'espace" }}

{{main|JAXA}}

Japan's space agency, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, is a major space player in Asia. While not maintaining a commercial launch service, Japan has deployed a module in the ISS and operates an uncrewed cargo spacecraft, the H-II Transfer Vehicle.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

JAXA has plans to launch a Mars fly-by probe. Their lunar probe, SELENE, is touted as the most sophisticated lunar exploration mission in the post-Apollo era. Japan's Hayabusa probe was humankind's first sample return from an asteroid. IKAROS was the first operational solar sail.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

Although Japan developed the HOPE-X, Kankoh-maru, and Fuji crewed capsule spacecraft, none of them have been launched. Japan's current ambition is to deploy a new crewed spacecraft by 2025 and to establish a Moon base by 2030.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

{{main|National Space Organization|National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology}}

The National Space Organization (NSPO; formerly known as the National Space Program Office) and the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology are the national civilian space agencies of the democratic industrialized developed country of Taiwan under the auspices of the Ministry of Science and Technology (Taiwan). The National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology is involved in designing and building Taiwanese nuclear weapons,{{cite web |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/taiwanese-navy-accidentally-fires-nuclear-8730387 |title=Taiwanese navy accidentally fires NUCLEAR MISSILE at fishing vessel as tensions in China Strait reach boiling point |last=Adams |first=Sam |date=1 September 2016 |website=Mirror}}{{cite web |url=http://defencenews.in/article/At-Mach-10,-Taiwans-Hsiung-Feng-III-Anti-China-Missiles-could-be-faster-than-the-BrahMos-18873 |title=At Mach-10, Taiwan's Hsiung Feng-III 'Anti-China' Missiles could be faster than the BrahMos |date=2016 |website=Indian Defence News |access-date=2018-03-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170807021440/http://defencenews.in/article/At-Mach-10%2C-Taiwans-Hsiung-Feng-III-Anti-China-Missiles-could-be-faster-than-the-BrahMos-18873 |archive-date=2017-08-07 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url=http://www.chinatopix.com/articles/104213/20161021/taiwan-extending-range-hsiung-feng-iii-missiles-world-s-fastest.htm |title=Taiwan Extending the Range of its Hsiung Feng III Missiles to Reach China |last=Villasanta |first=Arthur Dominic |date=21 October 2016 |website=China Topix}} hypersonic missiles, spacecraft and rockets for launching satellites while the National Space Organization is involved in space exploration, satellite construction, and satellite development as well as related technologies and infrastructure (including the FORMOSAT series of Earth observation satellites similar to NASA{{cite web |url=https://topics.amcham.com.tw/2015/12/taiwans-space-program-blasts-off/ |title=Taiwan's Space Program Blasts Off |last=Fulco |first=Matthew |date=16 December 2015 |website=Taiwan Business Topics}} along with DARPA {In-Q-Tel} such as Google Earth {Keyhole, Inc} or so forth) and related research in astronautics, quantum physics, materials science with microgravity, aerospace engineering, remote sensing, astrophysics, atmospheric science, information science, design and construction of indigenous Taiwanese satellites and spacecraft, launching satellites and space probes into low Earth orbit.{{cite web |url=http://www.defenseworld.net/news/21837/Taiwan_To_Upgrade____Cloud_Peak____Medium_range_Missiles_For_Micro_Satellites_Launch |title=Taiwan To Upgrade 'Cloud Peak' Medium-range Missiles For Micro-Satellites Launch |date=25 January 2018 |website=Defense World |access-date=29 March 2018 |archive-date=25 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180125193724/http://www.defenseworld.net/news/21837/Taiwan_To_Upgrade____Cloud_Peak____Medium_range_Missiles_For_Micro_Satellites_Launch |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url=https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3349525 |title=Taiwan's upgraded 'Cloud Peak' missiles could reach Beijing |last=Everington |first=Keoni |date=25 January 2018 |website=Taiwan News}}{{cite web |url=https://spacewatch.global/2018/01/taiwans-new-ballistic-missile-capable-launching-microsatellites/ |title=Taiwan's New Ballistic Missile Capable of Launching Microsatellites |website=Spacewatch Asia Pacific|date=30 January 2018 }} Additionally, a state of the art crewed spaceflight program is currently in development in Taiwan and is designed to compete directly with the crewed programs of China, United States and Russia. Active research is currently undergoing in the development and deployment of space-based weapons for the defense of national security in Taiwan.{{Cite web|url=http://www.nspo.narl.org.tw/en2016/aboutNSPO/mission.html|title=Welcome to NSPO|website=Nspo.narl.org.tw|access-date=March 16, 2017|archive-date=March 17, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170317054250/http://www.nspo.narl.org.tw/en2016/aboutNSPO/mission.html|url-status=dead}}

{{main|ISRO}}

Indian Space Research Organisation, India's national space agency, maintains an active space program. It operates a small commercial launch service and launched a successful uncrewed lunar mission dubbed Chandrayaan-1 in October 2007. India successfully launched an interplanetary mission, Mars Orbiter Mission, in 2013 which reached Mars in September 2014, hence becoming the first country in the world to do a Mars mission in its maiden attempt. On July 22, 2019, India sent Chandrayaan-2 to the Moon, whose Vikram lander crashed on the lunar south pole region on September 6.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

Cosmonauts and astronauts from other nations have flown in space, beginning with the flight of Vladimir Remek, a Czech, on a Soviet spacecraft on March 2, 1978. {{As of|2013|11|06|df=US}}, a total of 536 people from 38 countries have gone into space according to the FAI guideline.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

File:SpaceX's first reused Crew Dragon Endeavour, docks at International Space Station (ISS) - 25544U.webm

{{excerpt|SpaceX|only=paragraphs|paragraphs=1,2}}SpaceX has used a fully reusable rocket named Starship. It consists of a first stage named Super Heavy and a second stage also named Starship.

{{Main|Blue Origin}}

Blue Origin made the first reusable space-capable rocket booster, New Shepard (it is suborbital, Falcon 9 was the first orbital). They also originally had the idea of landing rocket boosters on ships at sea; however, SpaceX replicated their idea and did it first. They lead the national team, which is designing a lunar lander and transfer vehicle (Integrated Lander Vehicle). They will contribute by modifying their Blue Moon lunar lander.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

{{Main|Bigelow Aerospace}}

Bigelow Aerospace made the first commercial module in space (BEAM). They also designed and manufactured the first inflatable habitats in space (Genesis I and Genesis II). They also plan to make the first commercial space station around the moon (Lunar Depot), perhaps the first ever.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

{{Main|Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems}}

They make commercial resupply runs to the ISS with their Cygnus spacecraft. They also helped develop non-commercial spacecraft during the space race (Apollo LM as Grumman). They also are a part of the national team, led by Blue Origin which is designing a lunar lander and transfer vehicle (Integrated Lander Vehicle), partly based on Cygnus.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

{{Excerpt|United Launch Alliance}}

{{Excerpt|Arianespace}}

{{Excerpt|Rocket Lab}}

{{Portal|Spaceflight}}

• History of Space in Africa
• History of aviation
• List of crewed spacecraft
• Timeline of spaceflight
• Timeline of Solar System exploration
• Timeline of space exploration
• Human presence in space

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book|last1=Benson|first1=Charles Dunlap|first2=William David|last2=Compton|name-list-style=amp |year=1983 |url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4208/contents.htm|title=Living and Working in Space: A History of Skylab |publisher=NASA Scientific and Technical Information Office|id=SP-4208|oclc=8114293}} {{PD-notice}}

• {{Commons category-inline|History of spaceflight}}
• Quest: The History of Spaceflight
• [http://historicspacecraft.com/ Historic spacecraft]

{{Spaceflight}}

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