Spaceflight Spaceflight The technology of atmospheric reentry was a consequence of the Cold War. Ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons were legacies of World War II left to both the Soviet Union and the United States. Both nations initiated massive research and development programs to further the military capability of those technologies. However before a missile delivered nuclear weapon could be practical there lacked an essential ingredient: an atmospheric reentry technology. In theory, the nation first developing a reentry technology had a decisive military advantage. At first glance, it was not even certain that such a technology was physically possible. It was a simple calculation to show the kinetic energy of a nuclear warhead returning from orbit was more than sufficient to completely vaporize the warhead. However despite this calculation, the military stakes were so high that simply assuming atmospheric reentry's impossibility was unacceptable. Consequently a crash program was initiated to develop such a technology that in many ways was comparable to the Cold War's nuclear research and development programs. Huge amounts of money along with mankind's greatest minds were allocated towards the task. Of course, atmospheric reentry was possible and the nightmare of world wide thermonuclear destruction became real. ...more on Wikipedia about "Atmospheric reentry"
A ballistic reentry is a re-entry of an atmosphere that relies solely on drag within the atmosphere to slow the vehicle. By contrast, the U.S. space shuttle relies heavily on aerodynamic lift for its reentry, both vertically, to prolong the reentry process, and horizontally, to dissipate energy into a series of S-turns. The U.S. Mercury and Soviet Vostok spacecraft used a ballistic reentry. The U.S. Gemini and Apollo spacecraft and Russian Soyuz spacecraft use a lifting reentry, where aerodynamic lift makes for a gentler and aimable reentry, but have a backup ballistic reentry mode, used most recently on the Soyuz TMA-1 mission. ...more on Wikipedia about "Ballistic reentry"
The Centennial Challenges are NASA inducement prize contests for non-government-funded technological achievements by American teams. ...more on Wikipedia about "Centennial Challenges"
There sometimes appears to be confusion among the general public about the difference between sub-orbital and orbital spaceflights. This article is an attempt to clarify this issue. It also elaborates on the technical implications of the differences between orbital and sub-orbital spaceflights. ...more on Wikipedia about "Difference between sub-orbital and orbital spaceflights"
Earth Orbit Rendezvous was a proposed method for American space missions to the Moon. It consisted of using a series of small rockets half the size of a Saturn V Rocket to put different components of a spacecraft to go to the Moon in orbit around the Earth, then assemble them in orbit. It was viewed as undesirable because at the time there was not that much experience with maneuvering space objects to rendezvous, and it was unknown if the ship could be successfully constructed in space. ...more on Wikipedia about "Earth orbit rendezvous"
A gravity whip is the manoeuvreal technique of using the gravity of a nearby astronomical object to accelerate or alter the course of a spacecraft. ...more on Wikipedia about "Gravity whip"
A Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle, or HHLV, is distinguished from Medium Lift Launch Vehicles (MLLV) by the mass that they can lift into Low Earth Orbit (LEO). While there is currently no specifically stated mass, it is generally agreed that rockets like the Titan IV, Atlas V, Ariane 5, Proton, and Delta IV are all considered "Heavy Lift" launch vehicles, as they're capable of lifting more than 30,000 lb (14,000 kg) to LEO, and more than 10,000 lb (5,000 kg) to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO). ...more on Wikipedia about "Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle"
By definition, interplanetary travel is travel between bodies in a given star system. ...more on Wikipedia about "Interplanetary travel"
Mission Control Center (MCC) is a unit that manages aerospace flights. MCC is often part of an aerospace agency. There are several such agencies in the world, the three biggest ones being: ...more on Wikipedia about "Mission Control Center"
(Office of Commercial Space Transportation)
An orbital spaceflight (or orbital flight) in the general sense is a spaceflight where the trajectory of a spacecraft reaches the height of, and through having an appropriate velocity enters into, orbit around an astronomical body. Most commonly the term is applied specifically to Earth orbit: reaching Earth orbit from the Earth's surface. ...more on Wikipedia about "Orbital spaceflight"
Skip reentry is a reentry technique involving successive "skips" off the atmosphere to slow the spacecraft to a reasonable speed before entering, which greatly decreases the huge amount of heat that is usually generated on faster descents. Skip reentry requires precise guidance. An overly shallow entry angle will result in the spacecraft retaining too much of its velocity, possibly escaping into space permanently if this is more than escape velocity. An overly steep entry, on the other hand, results in more intense heating and stress that could exceed the spacecraft's design tolerances and may prevent the craft from skipping at all. ...more on Wikipedia about "Skip reentry"
Splashdown is the method of landing by parachute in a body of water of spacecraft. It was used by American manned spacecraft prior to the Space Shuttle. It is also possible for the Russian Soyuz spacecraft and Chinese Shenzhou spacecraft to land in water, though this is only a contignency. As the name suggests, the capsule parachutes into an ocean or other large body of water. The properties of the water cushion the spacecraft enough that there is no need for a braking rocket to slow the final descent as was the case with Russian and Chinese manned space capsules, which returned to Earth over land instead. The American practice came in part because American launch sites are on the coastline and launch primarily over water. Russian and Chinese launch sites are far inland and most early launch aborts are likely to descend on land. ...more on Wikipedia about "Splashdown (spacecraft landing)"
A sub-orbital spaceflight (or sub-orbital flight) is a spaceflight that does not involve putting a vehicle into orbit. Manned and unmanned sub-orbital flights have been undertaken to test spacecraft and launch vehicles intended for later orbital flight, but some vehicles have been designed exclusively to reach space sub-orbitally: manned vehicles such as the X-15 and SpaceShipOne, and unmanned ones such as ICBMs and sounding rockets. ...more on Wikipedia about "Sub-orbital spaceflight"
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