Space, Major Space Expeditions, Spacecrafts

Major Space Expeditions

For as long as there have been people on Earth, we have looked up at the sky and wondered about the Sun, Moon, stars, and some spectacular events we saw there from time to time. But it is only in the past 50 years or that we developed the to leave our planet and actually visit other bodies in the universe.

After World War II, both
the United States and the Soviet Union created programs to build powerful enough to make space travel possible. What then followed was a race to travel into space with probes and spacecraft.

During the last few decades, hundreds of satellites, probes and space shuttles have been launched, which have explored near-Earth space, travelled to the Moon, the Sun, and to all the planets except Pluto. Moreover, with entire laboratories already in orbit around the earth and telescopes exploring more and more of our universe, space research is still continuing. Talk of future developments includes building a base on Mars, searching for life in other galaxies, and so forth

Major Space Expeditions

Mission	Country/Agency	Launch Date	Encounter Date	Comets Explored	Encounter Characteristics

Contour	USA/NASA	July 2002	November 2003 June 2006 August 2008	Comet Encke (2003) Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann-3 (2004) Comet d'Arrest (2008)	The Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR) will be the first mission to fly by three comets. It will analyze the comet nuclei and the dust surrounding the comets.
Deep Impact	USA/NASA	January 6, 2004	July 4, 2005	Comet Tempel	When Deep Impact nears the comet Tempel, it will separate into two parts. One part will fly by the comet and record data. The second part is the "impactor"...it will crash into the comet nucleus so scientists can study the comet nucleus!
Deep Space 1	USA/NASA	October 15, 1998	September 2001	Comet Borrelly	Deep Space 1 tested 12 new revolutionary technologies that will be used in future missions. It is scheduled for a close encounter with comet Borrelly in September 2001.
Galileo	USA/NASA	October 18, 1989	July 1994	Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9	Galileo is not specifically a comet mission, but it was able to make the only direct observations of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 as over 20 fragments of the comet plunged into Jupiter's night side atmosphere over a six-day interval.
Giotto	European Space Agency	July 2, 1985	March 13, 1986 July 10, 1992	Comet Halley (1986) Comet Grigg-Skjellerup (1992)	Giotto took the first close-up images of a comet nucleus. It was also the first mission to encounter 2 comets.
ISEE-3/ICE	USA/NASA	August 12, 1978	September 11, 1985 March 28, 1986	Comet Giacobini-Zinner (1985) Comet Halley (1986)	First ever comet encounter with Giacobini-Zinner. Made distant observations of Halley. Will return to the vicinity of Earth in 2014 and could possibly be captured then.
Rosetta	European Space Agency	Jannuary 23, 2003	November 2011	Comet Wirtanen	Rosetta will rendezvous with comet Wirtanen in 2011. From close-by, the probe will take scientific measurements. Later, a Surface Science Package (SSP) will be landed on the comet surface to take in-situ measurements.
Sakigake	Japan	January 7, 1985	March 11, 1986	Comet Halley	First Japanese Deep Space Probe. Sakigake found that solar wind was affected by the presence of comet Halley.
Stardust	USA/NASA	February 7, 1999	January 2004	Comet Wild 2	Its primary goal is to collect comet dust and volatile samples during a planned close encounter with comet Wild 2. It will then return the samples to Earth.
Suisei	Japan	August 18, 1985	March 8, 1986	Comet Halley	Second Japanese Deep Space Probe. Suisei means "comet" in Japanese.
Ulysses	NASA/ESA	October 6, 1990	beginning in 1994	many - see explanation	Ulysses is not specifically a comet mission, but it is used to make observations of comets, especially those within 2 A.U. of the Sun and 20 degrees of the spacecraft. A Ulysses Comet Watch Network was set up in 1992 and includes 250 observers around the world. Professional and amateur observers along with Ulysses have observed comets Borrelly, D'Arrest, Encke, Mueller, Pons-Winnecke, Temple 2, Tuttle, Hale-Bopp and others.
Vega 1	USSR	December 15, 1984	March 4, 1986	Comet Halley	Worked in combination with Vega 2. Both spacecraft went first to Venus and then onto an encounter with comet Halley. Vega 1 was the first spacecraft to reach comet Halley.
Vega 2	USSR	December 21, 1984	March 9, 1986	Comet Halley	Worked in combination with Vega 1. Vega 2 was the second spacecraft to reach comet Halley, but approached the comet at a closer distance than Vega 1.