Space Encyclopedia
🚀 Space Missions
Overview
Space missions are humanity's practical exploration of everything beyond Earth's atmosphere — crewed spaceflight, robotic probes, orbital observatories, and interplanetary rovers. Every real image of another world in your feed came from a spacecraft.
Key facts
- •First human in space: Yuri Gagarin, 1961
- •First Moon landing: Apollo 11, July 20, 1969
- •Farthest probe: Voyager 1, >24 billion km from Earth
- •JWST launch: December 25, 2021
- •Artemis program: return crewed missions to the Moon
Why it matters
Real missions supply the data that powers this site — SDO watches the Sun, DSCOVR and ACE measure solar wind at L1, GOES tracks X-ray flares, and every satellite pass is a real spacecraft over your head.
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Frequently asked questions
How does data get from a spacecraft to Earth?
Spacecraft transmit radio signals to NASA's Deep Space Network and equivalent antennas. Even from Voyager 1, at more than 24 billion km, we still receive data — though it takes signals over 22 hours one way.
Are humans going back to the Moon?
Yes. NASA's Artemis program plans crewed lunar landings in the second half of this decade, with the goal of a sustained presence and eventual crewed missions to Mars.
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