About Spacecraft & Missions
Space missions use robots and human crews to explore places that are difficult or impossible to reach from Earth. Every mission combines engineering, navigation, communications, science, power, and years of planning.
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Launch Vehicles
A spacecraft needs a rocket to climb through the atmosphere and gain enough speed for its mission.
Learn MoreApollo
Apollo sent astronauts to orbit and land on the Moon.
Learn MoreVoyager
Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 transformed our view of the outer planets.
Learn MoreMars Rovers
Rovers let scientists operate mobile laboratories on another planet.
Learn MoreOrbiters
Orbiting spacecraft can map entire worlds over long periods.
Learn MoreFlybys
A flyby mission gathers data while passing a target at high speed.
Learn MoreDeep-Space Communication
Spacecraft send information across enormous distances using radio signals.
Learn MoreMission Design
Engineers balance science goals, cost, risk, power, mass, and travel time.
Learn MoreLaunch Vehicles
Rockets work by pushing exhaust in one direction and accelerating the vehicle in the other. Multistage launch vehicles drop empty sections as they climb, reducing mass. Different missions need different amounts of energy depending on their destination.
Apollo
Apollo 11 made the first crewed lunar landing in July 1969. Five additional Apollo missions also landed astronauts on the Moon. Crews collected rocks, deployed instruments, photographed the surface, and traveled farther across the landscape on later missions.
Voyager
Launched in 1977, the spacecraft flew past Jupiter and Saturn, while Voyager 2 also visited Uranus and Neptune. Both spacecraft continued outward, and they became the first probes to enter interstellar space.
Mars Rovers
Sojourner, Spirit, Opportunity, Curiosity, Perseverance, and China's Zhurong have explored different regions of Mars. NASA's rovers use cameras and instruments to study rocks, climate, geology, and evidence of past environments.
Orbiters
Orbiters around Earth, the Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and other destinations have studied surfaces, atmospheres, magnetic fields, gravity, and weather. Repeated passes let scientists compare changes over time.
Flybys
Flybys can be useful when entering orbit would require too much fuel. New Horizons used a flyby to study Pluto in 2015 and later visited the Kuiper Belt object Arrokoth.
Deep-Space Communication
Large antenna networks on Earth receive faint transmissions and send commands. The farther a spacecraft travels, the longer signals take. Radio messages to Mars can take many minutes, so distant spacecraft must perform many tasks autonomously.
Mission Design
A mission may take many years from early planning to launch. Teams must choose instruments, trajectory, communication systems, power sources, thermal control, and backup procedures. Space missions succeed through cooperation among thousands of people.