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OPPORTUNITY is the most successful Mars rover to date. When it landed on Mars on January 25, 2004, NASA had high hopes it will stay operational for at least 90 days. They severely underestimated this little rover. Opportunity has been exploring red planet
The CASSINI-HUYGENS mission , commonly called Cassini, was a collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Italian Space Agency (ASI) to send a probe to study the planet Saturn and its system, including its rings and natural satellites. The Flagship-class robotic spacecraft comprised both NASA's Cassini probe, and ESA's Huygens lander which landed on Saturn's largest moon, Titan.Cassini was the fourth space probe to visit Saturn and the first to enter its orbit. The craft were named after astronomers Giovanni Cassini and Christiaan Huygens. Cassini's original mission was planned to last for four years, from June 2004 to May 2008. The mission was extended for another two years until September 2010, branded the Cassini Equinox Mission. The mission was extended a second and final time with the Cassini Solstice Mission, lasting another seven years until September 15, 2017, on which date Cassini was de-orbited to burn up in Saturn's upper atmosphere. The Huygens module traveled with Cassini until its separation from the probe on December 25, 2004; it was landed by parachute on Titan on January 14, 2005. It returned data to Earth for around 90 minutes, using the orbiter as a relay. This was the first landing ever accomplished in the outer Solar System and the first landing on a moon other than our own. At the end of its mission on September 15, 2017, the Cassini spacecraft executed the "Grand Finale" of its mission: a number of risky passes through the gaps between Saturn and Saturn's inner rings.The purpose of this phase was to maximize Cassini's scientific outcome before the spacecraft was disposed. The atmospheric entry of Cassini ended the mission, but analyses of the returned data will continue for many years. artwork Liis Roden
Luna 3, or E-2A No.1 (Russian: Луна 3) was a Soviet spacecraft launched in 1959 as part of the Luna programme. It was the first-ever mission to photograph the far side of the Moon and the third Soviet space probe to be sent to the neighborhood of the Moon.Though it returned rather poor pictures by later standards, the historic, never-before-seen views of the far side of the Moon caused excitement and interest when they were published around the world, and a tentative Atlas of the Far Side of the Moon was created after image processing improved the pictures. These views showed mountainous terrain, very different from the near side, and only two dark, low-lying regions which were named Mare Moscoviense (Sea of Moscow) and Mare Desiderii (Sea of Desire). Mare Desiderii was later found to be composed of a smaller mare, Mare Ingenii (Sea of Ingenuity), and several other dark craters. The reason for this difference between the two sides of the Moon is still not fully understood, but it seems that most of the dark lavas that flowed out to produce the maria formed under the Earth-facing half. artwork Liis Roden
Dawn is a retired space probe launched by NASA in September 2007 with the mission of studying two of the three known protoplanets of the asteroid belt, Vesta and Ceres. It was retired on 1 November 2018 and it is currently in an uncontrolled orbit about its second target, the dwarf planet Ceres. Dawn is the first spacecraft to orbit two extraterrestrial bodies, the first spacecraft to visit either Vesta or Ceres, and the first to visit a dwarf planet, arriving at Ceres in March 2015. It was also the first NASA exploratory mission to use ion propulsion, which enabled it to enter and leave the orbit of two celestial bodies.
The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous – Shoemaker (NEAR Shoemaker), renamed after its 1996 launch in honor of planetary scientist Eugene Shoemaker, was a robotic space probe designed by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory for NASA to study the near-Earth asteroid Eros from close orbit over a period of a year. The mission succeeded in closing in with the asteroid and orbited it several times, finally terminating by touching down on the asteroid on 12 February 2001. The primary scientific objective of NEAR was to return data on the bulk properties, composition, mineralogy, morphology, internal mass distribution and magnetic field of Eros. Secondary objectives include studies of regolith properties, interactions with the solar wind, possible current activity as indicated by dust or gas, and the asteroid spin state. This data will be used to help understand the characteristics of asteroids in general, their relationship to meteoroids and comets, and the conditions in the early Solar System. To accomplish these goals, the spacecraft was equipped with an X-ray/gamma-ray spectrometer, a near-infrared imaging spectrograph, a multi-spectral camera fitted with a CCD imaging detector, a laser rangefinder, and a magnetometer. A radio science experiment was also performed using the NEAR tracking system to estimate the gravity field of the asteroid. The total mass of the instruments was 56 kg, and they required 80 W power. Artwork by Liis Roden
A gallery of NASA crew patches including those for Project Mercury, Project Gemini, Apollo, Space Shuttle, and International Space Station Expeditions.
Back at ISTE in June, Google’s expo hall space was flooded with educators hoping to try on a Google Expeditions headset--a virtual reality experience ...
By 2028, a Mars-circling space station could be housing researchers trying to answer key questions about that complex planet as a prelude to human expeditions to the surface.
Sunita (Suni) L. Williams was selected as an astronaut by NASA in 1998 and is a veteran of two space missions, Expeditions 14/15 and 32/33. NASA
OceanGate Expeditions is a company of undersea explorers, scientists, and filmmakers who are dedicated to manned exploration of the underwater world. It organizes exclusive expeditions to explore and document 95% of the seafloor including iconic shipwrecks, deep-sea canyons, and extreme biological events around the world. In 2021 OceanGate Expeditions will launch a series of expeditions to the wreck of the RMS Titanic to collect images, video, laser scans, and sonar data to provide an objective baseline of the current condition of the wreck. Titanic Survey Expeditions will have space for
The year 2025 promises to be packed with space exploration, including robotic expeditions to the moon, a new observatory and a rendezvous with an asteroid.
The two countries have pledged to cooperate on expeditions to the moon and to an asteroid, setting the stage for a new space race with the United States and its partners.
NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor is hugged by students after a presentation about her experience on Expeditions 56 and 57 onboard the International Space Station at Excel Academy Public Charter School in DC.
Thomas Pesquet is a European Space Agency astronaut who was the first person from France to command the International Space Station.While Pesquet's background is in spacecraft design and control, he is also well-known for engagement activities in space such as playing music or performing regular tours of the International Space Station (ISS). He even performed the saxophone from space during the closing ceremonies of the 2020 Olympics (held in 2021 due to the pandemic), as Paris will be the host of the 2024 Summer Games.During Pesquet's first mission, he flew to the ISS on a Russian Soyuz and spent 197 days in space between 2016 and 2017 as a flight engineer for Expeditions 50 and 51. Pesquet, who recently served during Expeditions 65, 66 and 67, arrived at the ISS again on April 23, 2021 and returned to Earth on Nov. 8, 2021, aboard the SpaceX Crew-2 Crew Dragon.
Since the very first International Space Station mission in 2000, NASA has been creating expedition posters usually featuring a group photo of the crew. These posters were used to advertise expeditions and were also hung in NASA facilities and other government organizations. However, when astronauts got bored of the standard group photos they decided to spice things up a bit.
Embrace the spirit of adventure with our Large Original Duffel. Designed for the modern explorer, this spacious duffel offers ample storage space coupled with stylish details, making it the perfect companion for all your travels, from weekend getaways to extended expeditions. Whether you're traveling, hitting the gym o
It's hard to claim that science fiction is an "underrated" genre. Our big budget movies are full of space expeditions and alien invasions, our TV shows are full of inexplicably cowboy-themed robots, and our popular YA series are full of dystopian…
Australia's Trakka has given us our first look at a gen-3 Mercedes Sprinter camper van from down under. The Jabiru van uses a full off-grid power suite and space-optimizing components to support adventurers as they escape for quick holidays or extended off-grid expeditions.
