Remotely Controlled Spacecraft
Telescopes, satellites, and space probes are all examples of remotely controlled
spacecraft-spacecraft that don't carry a crew of astronauts.
Telescopes help us look at stars, star clusters, and gas clouds in our own Milky Way
Galaxy and beyond. Telescopes can be ground-based (located on Earth) or space-based
(orbiting the Earth.)
A variety of human-built satellites orbit the Earth. Some gather information about space,
others gather information about the Earth. Reports are transmitted down to scientists on
the ground. Still other satellites are devoted to communication: picking up radio, telephone,
or television signals from one place on Earth and directing them somewhere else.
Galileo spacecraft orbiting Jupiter
Space probes carry instruments that gather and transmit data and/or images from space.
Space probes provided us with most of the information we have about the planets and moons
in our solar system.
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Human Exploration
The one-person Mercury capsule was used between 1961 and 1963 in America's first space flights.
The two-person Gemini Space Capsule was used from 1964 to 1966. For five exciting years
(1968-1972), the Apollo program took astronauts into space and eventually to the moon to
collect samples and conduct experiments.
Apollo 11 landing on the moon
America's first space station, Skylab (1973-1974), used Apollo hardware to prove that
astronauts could live in space for months at a time. Today, the Space Shuttle and International
Space Station allow astronauts to live and work in space, conducting scientific experiments
and capturing images of our planet. Astronauts on board the Space Shuttle can repair
space-based telescopes and satellites. A new International Space Station is under construction.
It will be the largest spacecraft in history to orbit the Earth.
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