Spaceflight

Spaceflight can be achieved conventionally via multistage rockets, which provide the thrust to overcome the force of gravity and propel spacecraft onto suborbital trajectories.

This becomes a major issue when large numbers of uncontrollable spacecraft exist in frequently used orbits, increasing the risk of debris colliding with functional satellites.

[1] More well-known is Konstantin Tsiolkovsky's work, "Исследование мировых пространств реактивными приборами" (The Exploration of Cosmic Space by Means of Reaction Devices), published in 1903.

Spaceflight became a practical possibility with the work of Robert H. Goddard's publication in 1919 of his paper A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes.

After further research, Goddard attempted to secure an Army contract for a rocket-propelled weapon in the first World War but his plans were foiled by the November 11, 1918 armistice with Germany.

The Soviet Union, in turn, captured several V2 production facilities and built several replicas, with 5 of their 11 rockets successfully reaching their targets.

The Soviet Union developed intercontinental ballistic missiles to carry nuclear weapons as a counter measure to United States bomber planes in the 1950s.

The Tsiolkovsky-influenced Sergey Korolev became the chief rocket designer, and derivatives of his R-7 Semyorka missiles were used to launch the world's first artificial Earth satellite, Sputnik 1, on October 4, 1957.

Spaceflight has been widely employed by numerous government and commercial entities for placing satellites into orbit around Earth for a broad range of purposes.

Chemical propulsion, or the acceleration of gases at high velocities, is effective mainly because of its ability to sustain thrust even as the atmosphere thins.

Ideas such as the space elevator, and momentum exchange tethers like rotovators or skyhooks require new materials much stronger than any currently known.

The parking orbit gave the crew and controllers time to thoroughly check out the spacecraft after the stresses of launch before committing it for a long journey to the Moon.

Although some might coast briefly during the launch sequence, they do not complete one or more full parking orbits before the burn that injects them onto an Earth escape trajectory.

[6][7] In order to reach a space station, a spacecraft would have to arrive at the same orbit and approach to a very close distance (e.g. within visual contact).

Outer planets such as Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are too distant to reach with current crewed spaceflight technology, so telerobotic probes are the only way to explore them.

A partial failure caused it to instead follow a suborbital trajectory to an altitude of 113,854 kilometers (70,746 mi) before reentering the Earth's atmosphere 43 hours after launch.

On May 17, 2004, Civilian Space eXploration Team launched the GoFast rocket on a suborbital flight, the first amateur spaceflight.

Plans for future crewed interplanetary spaceflight missions often include final vehicle assembly in Earth orbit, such as NASA's Constellation program and Russia's Kliper/Parom tandem.

The first 'true spacecraft' is sometimes said to be Apollo Lunar Module,[22] since this was the only crewed vehicle to have been designed for, and operated only in space; and is notable for its non-aerodynamic shape.

The first partially reusable orbital spacecraft, the Space Shuttle, was launched by the USA on the 20th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's flight, on 12 April 1981.

The first automatic partially reusable spacecraft was the Buran (Snowstorm), launched by the USSR on 15 November 1988, although it made only one flight.

Scaled Composites SpaceShipOne was a reusable suborbital spaceplane that carried pilots Mike Melvill and Brian Binnie on consecutive flights in 2004 to win the Ansari X Prize.

A fleet of SpaceShipTwos operated by Virgin Galactic planned to begin reusable private spaceflight carrying paying passengers (space tourists) in 2008, but this was delayed due to an accident in the propulsion development.

When a Delta II rocket exploded 13 seconds after launch on January 17, 1997, there were reports of store windows 10 miles (16 km) away being broken by the blast.

[27] Space is a fairly predictable environment, but there are still risks of accidental depressurization and the potential failure of equipment, some of which may be very newly developed.

It is distinct from the concept of weather within a planetary atmosphere, and deals with phenomena involving ambient plasma, magnetic fields, radiation and other matter in space (generally close to Earth but also in interplanetary, and occasionally interstellar medium).

Geomagnetic storms due to increased solar activity can potentially blind sensors onboard spacecraft, or interfere with on-board electronics.

There is the possibility that orbit could become inaccessible for generations due to exponentially increasing space debris caused by spalling of satellites and vehicles (Kessler syndrome).

[33] Even though some rights of non-spacefaring countries have been secured, sharing of space for all humanity is still criticized as imperialist and lacking, understanding spaceflight as a resource.

Early Italian satellites were launched using vehicles provided by NASA, first from Wallops Flight Facility in 1964 and then from a spaceport in Kenya (San Marco Platform) between 1967 and 1988;[citation needed] Italy has led the development of the Vega rocket programme within the European Space Agency since 1998.