History UsefulNotes / NASA

* ''Challenger'' (OV-099) (after the ship used for the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Challenger_expedition Challenger expedition,]] and the Apollo 17 Command Module). First launched in 1983. Carried the first American female astronaut, Sally Ride, into space. Sadly, ''Challenger'' is best known for its [[NeverLiveItDown destruction in 1986 just over a minute after liftoff.]] What made the tragedy even more devastating was the presence of a civilian school teacher, Christa [=McAuliffe=], who would have been the first teacher in space, not knowing that her ultimate fate would be to die in an explosion. The destruction was caused by a design flaw in the solid-rocket booster that, when combined with abnormally-strong wind shear and temperatures you'd never expect for Florida, caused a "bleed-through" on the external tank. It had happened several times before, but nothing wrong ever happened, so NASA made it a feature of the system. On this mission, the bleed-through caused the SRB to tear itself from the external tank, flinging the stack broadside into its own airstream (keep in mind the shuttle was flying at ''Mach-1'' at the time), and tore the orbiter and external tank apart, as the airstream pushed them too far past stress tolerances. The [=SRBs=], which were designed with a higher stress tolerance, remained in flight, out of control, before [[SelfDestructMechanism being destroyed by the Range Safety Officer]]. To this day, the media still refers to the disaster as an explosion, though the correct term is disintegration, as all indications suggest that the crew was still alive after break-up, only to be killed when they slammed into the Atlantic at roughly 200 MPH.

* Franchise/WonderWoman was also an astronaut for a while, back in UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks.

->''"[[https://youtu.be/ToHhQUhdyBY And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth.]]"''

[[quoteright:218:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nasa_logo.png]]

** Currently on display in a temporary pavillion at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. When its permanent home is constructed, it will be displayed in launch configuration, complete with external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters.

Three companies have contracts. One has a remarkable lead overall: [[UsefulNotes/SpaceExplorationTechnologiesCorporation SpaceX]]. Officially called "Space Exploration Technologies Corporation"[[note]]Which sounds like what NASA would've called a private-sector spinoff of itself, to be honest[[/note]] and founded by Paypal and Tesla billionaire Elon Musk, the company has developed its Falcon launch vehicles and its crew/cargo module, the Dragon, and is the first private company to launch a spacecraft to the ISS on May 22, 2012, and dock their vehicle to the ISS. They started operational flights in October 2012. The Dragon and Falcon are designed to almost-fully reusable, with extremely cool recovery/abort modes that bring [[http://spacex.com/multimedia/videos.php?id=1 expended Falcon boosters]] back to Earth ''via a powered rocket landing'', Series/{{Space 1999}} style. Also on the first contract was Orbital ATK (formerly Orbital Sciences) and their Cygnus cargo spacecraft. Despite a catastrophic (and rather spectacular) crash of the ORB-3 cargo rocket in October, 2014, they continued sending supplies thanks to a United Launch Alliance Atlas V launch vehicle until Orbital returned to flight on their Antares rocket by mid-2016.

** The fourth episode of ''Series/ThisIsAmericaCharlieBrown'' features the cast as astronauts on a then-near-future NASA SpaceStation (based on Reagan's proposed Freedom station). Also, in the episode where the kids visit the Smithsonian, they comment on the [[CelebrityParadox "strange coincidence"]] of the Apollo 10 modules being nicknamed "Charlie Brown" and "Snoopy".

** Alumni of the UsefulNotes/UniversityOfMichigan are likely to gloat about Apollo 15, as all three crew members had spent time in Ann Arbor (Worden and Irwin had Masters' in engineering from Michigan, while Scott had spent his freshman year as an undergraduate there before he was appointed to [[MilitaryAcademy West Point]] as a transfer).

* If Apollo 8 was the start of the US lead in manned spaceflight, ASTP was the end; the Soviets would take it back in the late [[TheSeventies '70s]] with the Salyut space stations, which found their ultimate expression in Mir. The Russians remain the worlds premier spacefaring nation. [[note]]at least as far as manned spaceflight is concerned[[/note]]

* ''LightNovel/FateRequiem'': As implied by the ending of the first volume, and confirmed in the {{Crossover}} with ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'', [[spoiler:the name of Erice's mysterious Servant "Prin" is actually Voyager, as in he's the manifestation of the ''Voyager-1'' space probe as a Servant having taken a human form to appeal to Erice and learn more about humanity and the world that sent him to explore the outer reaches of the cosmos.]]

** [[Myth/EgyptianMythology OSIRIS]]-[=REx=], a sample return mission launched in 2016 to study an asteroid called Bennu and learn about its origins. The probe rendezvoused with Bennu in 2018, will study the asteroid for about 500 days, then collect a sample and return it to Earth in 2023.

* Apollo 8: first mission to reunite crewmates from a previous mission (Borman and Lovell, Gemini 7), and the first mission in human history that went to the Moon. This was the first time that Humans had left near earth orbit. The flight did not land. Arguably the defining moment where the United States overtook the USSR in UsefulNotes/TheSpaceRace. [[note]]It's arguable that this happened with Gemini 12 in late 1966, when Buzz Aldrin proved gainful EVA was possible. At that point, the Soviet program had been frozen by technical and political issues for over a year, exacerbated by the death of their lead engineer, Sergei Korolev. The Soyuz 1 disaster would prevent any chance for the Soviets to capitalize on the Apollo 1 disaster to re-take the lead. But the achievements of Apollo 8 were more glamorous, and even more symbolic for "saving" the otherwise chaotic and depressing year 1968.[[/note]] Also notable for the Christmas Eve broadcast, in which the astronauts read from [[Literature/TheBible Genesis]] during a scheduled television broadcast, and the famous Earthrise photograph. Many professionals think of this as more significant than even...[[#Apollo11]]

** [[Myth/EgyptianMythology OSIRIS]]-[[EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs REx]], a sample return mission launched in 2016 to study an asteroid called Bennu and learn about its origins. The probe rendezvoused with Bennu in 2018, will study the asteroid for about 500 days, then collect a sample and return it to Earth in 2023.

To replace the Ares boosters as the primary launch vehicle for the Orion/Multi-Purpose Crew Module, NASA is currently working on a new booster called the Space Launch System. Reusing as much Space Shuttle hardware as possible, including the solid rocket boosters and a five-engine configuration of the RS-25 main engines used by the Space Shuttle, the SLS continues the Ares concept with all flight-tested hardware. Many say the SLS needs a better name, one name kicked around by space enthusiasts being Neptune to follow up on Saturn (as a rocket named Uranus would probably spawn even more juvenile jokes than the planet already has).

* In ''Manga/SpaceBrothers'', Mutta's brother Hibito was a JAXA astronaut under training from NASA and the first Japanese person to land on the moon. Mutta follows closely behind. ** Notably, actual JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi had a recurring role in the anime. Astronauts Akihiko Hoshide and Buzz Aldrin also provided their voices at various points.
* ''LightNovel/RocketGirls'': Yukari met the ISS astronauts on a service mission.

* In ''Manga/SpaceBrothers'', Mutta's brother Hibito was a JAXA astronaut under training from NASA and the first Japanese person to land on the moon. Mutta follows closely behind.

** The Perseverance rover, a bigger and better version of the Curiosity rover, is NASA's last envoy to Mars. It has extra coolness points thanks to the Ingenuity drone, a solar-powered helicopter that has become the first rotorcraft to fly on a world different to Earth. Just [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perseverance_(rover) enjoy]] its page on Wiki/TheOtherWiki.

** There are currently plans to launch quite a few more probes to Mars, including sample return missions and more and bigger rovers. The ''Mars Science Laboratory'' or "''Curiosity''" rover landed on the planet in 2012. Its landing heralded a few remarkable "firsts", including the use of a "sky crane," a powered rocket frame that lowered the Mini Cooper-sized rover to the surface, rather than using previous landing methods. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_science_laboratory_rover Oh, just go to the remarkable page]] on Wiki/TheOtherWiki for the grandeur of this rover.

->''"We reach for new heights and reveal the unknown for the benefit of humankind."''
-->-- '''The NASA Vision''' [[note]]Circa [[UsefulNotes/BarackObama 2011]], changes every presidential administration [[/note]]

* ''Apollo 13'' and ''The Right Stuff'' were books before they were films, respectively by Apollo 13 mission commander Jim Lovell and Creator/TomWolfe, though Lovell's book was titled ''Lost Moon''.

* Apollo 13: the "successful failure." Several critical equipment failures meant that the craft could not land on the Moon, but due to the tenacity of both the astronauts in the craft and the controllers, astronauts, scientists and engineers on the ground, all three crew members made it back alive. Made into [[Film/{{Apollo13}} an excellent novel and movie]]. Jim Lovell, who went past the Moon twice on Apollo missions 8 and 13 but never got to land on it, deserves a special mention here. Also, due to the nature of the emergency-abort maneuver's free-return-trajectory around the Moon, the 3 man crew of Apollo 13 hold the world-record of travelling a greater distance away from the center of the earth than any other humans in history.

** ''Galileo'', a dedicated Jupiter mission. Named for the famous Italian whose observations of Jupiter revealed [[UsefulNotes/TheMoonsOfJupiter its four largest moons]] (still called the "Galilean moons" in his honor), the first natural planetary satellites known to science (other than ''the'' Moon, of course) and who was held to have challenged Church teaching about the structure of the Universe based on his observations.[[note]]according to the 18th century Encyclopedists' anticlerical revisionism, anyway. In fact he got in trouble less for what he said, but [[{{Jerkass}} how he said it]]. (Watch Episode 5 of ''[[Series/{{Connections}} The Day the Universe Changed]]'' or read our UsefulNotes for UsefulNotes/HeresiesAndHeretics for more juicy details.)[[/note]] Originally scheduled for launch in 1982, after delays in the Shuttle program and the ''Challenger'' disaster, it was finally released from the cargo bay of ''Atlantis'' in 1989. It arrived at Jupiter in 1995 after swinging by Venus, Earth (twice), and two asteroids (safety concerns after ''Challenger'' necessitated the use of a less powerful solid-fuel booster and multiple gravity assists), and it successfully carried out an extensive survey of Jupiter and its moons, despite its main antenna not opening properly. It dropped a probe into Jupiter's atmosphere (no cameras, sorry), found evidence for a liquid ocean underneath Europa, and observed a '''''lot''''' of volcanoes on Io and (fortuitously) the impact on Jupiter of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9. After suffering years of cumulative damage from Jupiter's hellish radiation belts, it was intentionally de-orbited and burned up in the upper atmosphere of Jupiter in 2003 to avoid contaminating the Jovian moons with Earth bacteria (important because Europa in particular is thought to be one of the best candidates in the Solar System for extraterrestrial life).

** The ''New Horizons'' probe, launched in 2006, is the first to study dwarf planet Pluto and its moons when it arrived in July 2015; after its flyby, it can be potentially targeted to other nearby Kuiper Belt objects (three possible targets have been identified). The fifth spacecraft on a trajectory to leave the solar system, ''Horizons'' derives its velocity from a more powerful launch rocket and one gravitational assist from Jupiter. It carries the ashes of Clyde Tombaugh, the discoverer of Pluto. Cue jokes about how Tombaugh is powering up ''New Horizons'' by rolling in his box. Pluto's geology and appearance pleasantly surprised everyone, [[https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/images/index.html?id=367260 particularly the large heart-shaped ice formation]] that seemingly told its big blue brother, "I still love you, although you call me a dwarf.". After the Pluto flyby, it's expected to study Kuiper belt bodies that are within range of the spacecraft, the first one having been [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/486958_Arrokoth 486958 Arrokoth]] (then known as "Ultima Thule") that was flown by in December 31, 2019.
** The ''Dawn'' mission, a probe propelled by ion engines, to the asteroid Vesta (2011) and dwarf planet Ceres, where it arrived in 2015. The solar-powered ion engines have lower thrust than normal rockets but are very efficient and can fire continuously for long durations to achieve an overall greater velocity. Dawn is a hybrid of a fly-by craft and an orbiter, as its ion engines permit to enter orbit, then exit and head to a different location. Ceres has strange "bright spots" in the center of some craters that, thanks to study, have been determined as a type of magnesium salts from a subsurface layer, perhaps from sediment from water or other ices. Its mission ended in October 2018, when it ran out of fuel to orient its solar panels and is now (thought to be) orbiting Ceres and will keep doing so for decades.

* ''[[Film/DantesPeak Dante's Peak]]'': The heroes are saved from starvation when a NASA beacon is activated. Made HarsherInHindsight following the events of the Chilean miners.

* ''Film/FirstMan'', based on the book of the same name, a {{biopic}} about Neil Armstrong. The Apollo 11 mission of course gets the lion's share of the attention, but it also covers his earlier flights as a NASA test pilot and astronaut.

Three companies have contracts. One has a remarkable lead overall: UsefulNotes/SpaceX. Officially called "Space Exploration Technologies Corporation"[[note]]Which sounds like what NASA would've called a private-sector spinoff of itself, to be honest[[/note]] and founded by Paypal and Tesla billionaire Elon Musk, the company has developed its Falcon launch vehicles and its crew/cargo module, the Dragon, and is the first private company to launch a spacecraft to the ISS on May 22, 2012, and dock their vehicle to the ISS. They started operational flights in October 2012. The Dragon and Falcon are designed to almost-fully reusable, with extremely cool recovery/abort modes that bring [[http://spacex.com/multimedia/videos.php?id=1 expended Falcon boosters]] back to Earth ''via a powered rocket landing'', Series/{{Space 1999}} style. Also on the first contract was Orbital ATK (formerly Orbital Sciences) and their Cygnus cargo spacecraft. Despite a catastrophic (and rather spectacular) crash of the ORB-3 cargo rocket in October, 2014, they continued sending supplies thanks to a United Launch Alliance Atlas V launch vehicle until Orbital returned to flight on their Antares rocket by mid-2016.

Three companies have contracts. One has a remarkable lead overall: [=SpaceX=]. Officially called "Space Exploration Technologies Corporation"[[note]]Which sounds like what NASA would've called a private-sector spinoff of itself, to be honest[[/note]] and founded by Paypal and Tesla billionaire Elon Musk, the company has developed its Falcon launch vehicles and its crew/cargo module, the Dragon, and is the first private company to launch a spacecraft to the ISS on May 22, 2012, and dock their vehicle to the ISS. They started operational flights in October 2012. The Dragon and Falcon are designed to almost-fully reusable, with extremely cool recovery/abort modes that may ultimately bring a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUUnYgo1-lI&feature=relmfu manned Dragon spacecraft]] or [[http://spacex.com/multimedia/videos.php?id=1 expended Falcon boosters]] back to Earth ''via a powered rocket landing,'' Series/{{Space 1999}} style. Also on the first contract was Orbital ATK (formerly Orbital Sciences) and their Cygnus cargo spacecraft. Despite a catastrophic (and rather spectacular) crash of the ORB-3 cargo rocket in October, 2014, they continue sending supplies thanks to a United Launch Alliance Atlas V launch vehicle until Orbital returns to flight on their Antares rocket by mid 2016.

** ''Galileo'', a dedicated Jupiter mission. Named for the famous Italian whose observations of Jupiter revealed [[UsefulNotes/TheMoonsOfJupiter its four largest moons]] (still called the "Galilean moons" in his honor), the first natural planetary satellites known to science (other than ''the'' Moon, of course) and who was held to have challenged Church teaching about the structure of the Universe based on his observations [[note]]according to the 18th century Encyclopedists' anti-religious revisionism, anyway. In fact he got in trouble not for what he said, but [[{{Jerkass}} how he said it]][[/note]]. Originally scheduled for launch in 1982, after delays in the Shuttle program and the ''Challenger'' disaster, it was finally released from the cargo bay of ''Atlantis'' in 1989. It arrived at Jupiter in 1995 after swinging by Venus, Earth (twice), and two asteroids (safety concerns after ''Challenger'' necessitated the use of a less powerful solid-fuel booster and multiple gravity assists), and it successfully carried out an extensive survey of Jupiter and its moons, despite its main antenna not opening properly. It dropped a probe into Jupiter's atmosphere (no cameras, sorry), found evidence for a liquid ocean underneath Europa, and observed a '''''lot''''' of volcanoes on Io and (fortuitously) the impact on Jupiter of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9. After suffering years of cumulative damage from Jupiter's hellish radiation belts, it was intentionally de-orbited and burned up in the upper atmosphere of Jupiter in 2003 to avoid contaminating the Jovian moons with Earth bacteria (important because Europa in particular is thought to be one of the best candidates in the Solar System for extraterrestrial life).

** ''Voyagers 1'' and ''2'', some of the most famous spacecraft of all time, launched in 1977, the farthest and fastest machines ever built by humanity to date. They explored Jupiter and Saturn in greater detail than the Pioneers, using gravitational slingshots to propel them from planet to planet on their tour of the outer solar system. ''Voyager 1'''s mission ended at Saturn, but ''Voyager 2'' went on to study UsefulNotes/{{Uranus}} and UsefulNotes/{{Neptune}} (on a extended journey that took the entire decade of the [[TheEighties 1980s]]). Like the ''Pioneers'', they are headed out of the solar system, so they carry golden phonograph records designed by Creator/CarlSagan carrying the sounds of Earth, including music and greetings in dozens of human languages and one [[SpaceWhale whale]] language, with them out into the great void. In 1991, at Sagan's request, NASA had ''Voyager 1'' turn its cameras back on the solar system to take a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Portrait_(Voyager) family portrait]] of the planets, including the iconic ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pale_blue_dot Pale Blue Dot]]'', an image of its home world the Earth from almost 4 billion miles out. In 1999, ''Voyager 1'' became the most distant object ever created by the human race, a lead it is currently continually increasing. As of 2013, the ''Voyagers'' are ''still'' sending back data, taking readings of the solar wind as it drops away behind them. Currently, assuming nothing bad happens, ''Voyager 1'' has enough available resources to power itself until around 2025–2030, giving it a mission life of about 50 years. (No, there were only ''two Voyagers''. [[Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture A sixth Voyager spacecraft]] will not [[AIIsACrapshoot get an incredible upgrade and come back to a future Earth as a solar-system-sized machine-cloud and try to assimilate us]]--[[AlternateHistory we think]].)

Three companies have contracts. One has a remarkable lead overall: [=SpaceX=]. Founded by Paypal and Tesla billionaire Elon Musk, the company has developed its Falcon launch vehicles and its crew/cargo module, the Dragon, and is the first private company to launch a spacecraft to the ISS on May 22, 2012, and dock their vehicle to the ISS. They started operational flights in October 2012. The Dragon and Falcon are designed to almost-fully reusable, with extremely cool recovery/abort modes that may ultimately bring a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUUnYgo1-lI&feature=relmfu manned Dragon spacecraft]] or [[http://spacex.com/multimedia/videos.php?id=1 expended Falcon boosters]] back to Earth ''via a powered rocket landing,'' Series/{{Space 1999}} style. Also on the first contract was Orbital ATK (formerly Orbital Sciences) and their Cygnus cargo spacecraft. Despite a catastrophic (and rather spectacular) crash of the ORB-3 cargo rocket in October, 2014, they continue sending supplies thanks to a United Launch Alliance Atlas V launch vehicle until Orbital returns to flight on their Antares rocket by mid 2016.

An outgrowth of a design project known as Space Station Freedom, which was initiated under the [[UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan Reagan]] administration. By the 1980's the Soviets had wrested back the top dog position in manned spaceflight with the Salyut series of stations. The launch of Mir cemented this. [[note]] Mir was designed with a life of 5 years; it lasted 15 and shrugged off accidents that should have killed it. Mir's modular design (basically being built in parts from different modules launched separately) made it perhaps the first true station of science fiction lore, unlike the preceding ones which were built on the ground and sent up in one package; this permitted a much more capable and advanced station. Not for nothing is Mir considered along with Gagarin and Apollo one of the main achievements of spaceflight in the last century.[[/note]] Space Station Freedom was supposed to be the US's answer. Following a series of budget cutbacks (and a trimmed-down redesign, jokingly known as "Space Station Fred"), the Freedom proposal was abandoned in favor of the ISS, a collaborative project between NASA, the Russian Space Agency, the Canadian Space Agency, the multinational [[UsefulNotes/{{ESA}} European Space Agency]], and the [[UsefulNotes/{{JAXA}} Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency]]. This orbital science research facility is commanded from mission control centers in Houston, U.S. (which typically has overall operational control); Moscow, Russia; Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany; and Tsukuba, Japan.