Spacecraft

Spacecraft is a generic term used to describe all vehicles that are designed to fly in space. Normally this would apply to vehicles that reach orbit. However, spacecraft is also used to describe vehicles that reach space, normally defined as 100,000 meters altitude, on a sub-orbital flight.

A satellite is an unmanned vehicles that orbit the earth, or other space body.

Classes of Spacecraft

Manned Spacecraft

• Apollo
• Gemini
• Mercury
• Mir
• Salyut
• Skylab
• Soyuz
• Soyuz-TM
• Space Shuttle
• SpaceShipOne
• Vostok
• Voskhod
• X-15

Earth Orbit Satellites

• Sputnik
• Explorer 1
• GOES - Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite program

Lunar Probes

• Luna
• Lunar Orbiter
• Pioneer
• Ranger
• Surveyor

Planetary Probes

• Viking 1
• Mars Pathfinder
• Spirit rover
• Opportunity rover

Interplanetary Probes

• Voyager 1
• GALEX
• Galileo Probe
• Cassini–Huygens

Sounding Rockets

• Aerobee

Spacecraft in Literature & Art

• Bellerophon - Colonist ship named in Forbidden Planet
• Starship Enterprise - Inter-stellar ship from the Star Trek series.
• Serenity - Inter-stellar ship from the Firefly television series.

External Links

See also

• NewSpace