townoak.com/things/spacecraft
spacecraft, launch vehicles, and marine material

(a thing page of
townoak.com)
(alternative access at
townoak.freeservers.com)

The first four artificial Earth-orbiting satellite to be successfully launched
Sputnik 11957(10/04) atmospheric drag caused it to fall back into the atmosphere on the 4th of January 1958
Sputnik 21957(11/03) Sputnik 2 reentered the Earth's atmosphere on 14 April 1958, at approximately 0200 hrs
Explorer 11958(02/01)It remained in orbit until 1970(03/31)
Vanguard 11958(03/17)oldest human-made object still in orbit, together with the upper stage of its launch vehicle ... solar radiation pressure and atmospheric drag perturbations during periods of high solar activity affected its perigee, reducing its lifetime and expected burn up in the atmosphere to about 240 years, sometime in the late 22nd century
The 5 space probes and 1 other object listed below are the only artificial objects that have ever escaped the solar system.
List of artificial objects leaving the Solar System
...
Pioneer 11late 1996Its transmitter fell silent altogether
...
Pioneer 102003(01/23)The final, very weak signal was received when it was 12 billion kilometers (80 AU) from Earth
...
New Horizons2014(08/24)The probe will pass Neptune's orbit
Feb 2015Observations of Pluto begin
2015(05/05)Images exceed best Hubble Space Telescope resolution
2015(07/14)Flyby of Pluto around 11:47 UTC at 13,695 km, 13.78 km/s. Flyby of Charon, Hydra, Nix, Kerberos and Styx around 12:01 UTC at 29,473 km, 13.87 km/s
Voyager 22015 approxTermination of gyroscopic operations
Voyager 12015Termination of Data Tape Recorder (DTR) operations (limited by ability to capture 1.4 kbit/s data using a 70 m/34 m antenna array. This is the minimum rate at which the DTS can read-out data.)
New Horizons third stagelate 2015Crosses Pluto's orbit
Voyager 12016 approxTermination of gyroscopic operations
New Horizons2016–2020Possible flyby of one or more Kuiper belt objects (KBOs)
Voyager 22020 approxInitiate instrument power sharing
Voyager 12020Start shutdown of science instruments (as of October 18, 2010 the order is undecided but the Low-Energy Charged Particles, Cosmic Ray Subsystem, Magnetometer, and Plasma Wave Subsystem instruments are expected to still be operating)
Voyager 22025 or slightly afterwardsCan no longer power any single instrument
Voyager 12025-2030Can no longer power any single instrument
New Horizons2026The Dwarf Planets mission will conclude
2038(12)New Horizons will be 100 AU from the Sun/If still functioning, the probe will explore the outer heliosphere.
List of space observatories

Fast radio burst

List of crewed spacecraft
The first reusable launch vehicle to reach orbit was the Space Shuttle, which was not able to accomplish the intended goal of reducing launch costs to below those of expendable launch systems.
Space Shuttle
List of crewed spacecraft
VSS Unity RocketMotorTwo Scaled Composites White Knight Two
SpaceX develops and manufactures space launch vehicles with a focus on advancing the state of rocket technology. The company's first two launch vehicles were the Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 rockets (a nod to Star Wars' Millennium Falcon), and its first spacecraft is the Dragon (a nod to Puff the Magic Dragon).

List of Falcon 9 first-stage boosters (Block 5 only below)
Falcon 9 B1046
2018(05/11) - Expended 		Falcon 9 B1047
2018(07/22) - Expended 		Falcon 9 B1048
2018(07/25) - Destroyed during landing failure 		Falcon 9 B1049
2018(09/10) - Awaiting Launch 		Falcon 9 B1050
2018(12/05) - Scrapped
Falcon 9 B1051
2019(03/02) - Awaiting Launch 		Falcon 9 B1052
2019(04/11) - Awaiting Assignment 		Falcon 9 B1053
2019(04/11) - Awaiting Launch 		Falcon 9 B1054
2018(12/23) -Expended 		Falcon 9 B1055 FH Core
2019(04/11) - Destroyed during recovery
Falcon 9 B1056
2019(05/04) - Lost at sea 		Falcon 9 B1057 FH Core
2019(06/25) - Destroyed during landing failure 		Falcon 9 B10582020(05/30) - Refurbishing Falcon 9 B1059
2019(12/05) - Destroyed during landing failure 		Falcon 9 B1060
2020(06/30) - Landed on ASOG
Falcon 9 B10612020(11/15) - Awaiting Assignment Falcon 9 B10622020(11/05) - Awaiting Launch Falcon 9 B1063
2020(11/21) - Awaiting Assignment 		Falcon 9 B1064
2022(10/28)? - Awaiting Launch 		Falcon 9 B1065
2022(10/28)? - Awaiting Launch
Falcon 9 B1066 FH Core
2022(10/28)? - Awaiting Launch 		Falcon 9 B1067
2021(06/03) - Refurbishing 		Falcon 9 B1068 FH Core
2022(12)? - Awaiting Launch 		Falcon 9 B1069
2021(12/21) - Awaiting Launch 		Falcon 9 B1070 FH Core
2023(04/10)? - Awaiting Launch
Falcon 9 B1071
2022(02/02) - Vertical at Port Long Beach 		Falcon 9 B1072
2023(07)? - Awaiting Launch 		Falcon 9 B1073
2022(05/14) - Refurbishing 		Falcon 9 B1074 FH Core
2022(07)? - Awaiting Launch 		Falcon 9 B1075
2023(07)? - Awaiting Launch
Falcon 9 B1076
? - Testing in McGregor 		Falcon 9 B1077
2022(10/05) - Horizontal at Port Canaveral 		Falcon 9 B1078
2023(02/01)? - Awaiting Testing 		Falcon 9 B1079 FH Core
2023(01)? - Awaiting Testing
SpaceX Dragon 2
Dragon 2 DragonFly C201
2015(05/06) - Retired 		Dragon Qual Module C202 Dragon ECLSS Module C203 Crew Dragon C204
2019(03/02) - Destroyed 		Crew Dragon C205
2020(01/19) - Out of Service
Crew Dragon Endeavour C206
2020(05/30) - Active 		Crew Dragon Resilience C207
2020(11/16) - Active 		Cargo Dragon C208
2020(12/06) - Active 		Cargo Dragon C209
2021(06/03) - Active
Crew Dragon Endurance
2021(11/11) - Active 		Cargo Dragon C211
2022(11/18)? - Under construction 		Crew _Dragon Freedom
2022(04/27) - Active
Autonomous spaceport drone ship SpaceX fairing recovery program

Blue Origin is owned and led by Amazon.com founder and businessman Jeff Bezos and aerospace engineer Rob Meyerson. NASA Silver Snoopy Award winner Robert Smith is the company's chief executive officer. The name New Shepard makes reference to the first American astronaut in space, Alan Shepard, one of the original NASA Mercury Seven astronauts, who ascended to space on a suborbital trajectory similar to that planned for New Shepard.
New Shepard

144

If you have any questions about this web site,
please contact our webmaster: Edward M. Stadick