Current Space Missions
Click on spacecraft name to go to it's home page on the Web.

Cassini

A mission to Saturn launched on October 15, 1997 and due to arrive in orbit around Saturn on July 1, 2004.

Galileo

Launched October 18, 1989 and arrived in orbit around Jupiter on Decmber 7, 1995.

Lunar Prospector

Launched January 6, 1998 and arrived in orbit around the Moon on January 11, 1998 (105 hours flight time).
Intentionally impacted on Moon July 31, 1999.

Mars Global Surveyor

Launched November 7, 1996 and arrived in orbit around Mars on September 12, 1997.

Mars Climate Orbiter

Launched December 11, 1998 and lost when it burned up in the atmosphere upon entry on September 23, 1999.

Mars Polar Lander

Launched January 3, 1999.  All contact was lost during the descent to Mars on December 3, 1999.

Deep Space 1

Launched October 24, 1998 and performed a fly-by of asteroid 1992 KD(Braille) on July 29, 1999.
 

NEAR  (Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous)

Launched February 16, 1996 and after a year in orbit around Eros, it was landed successfully on the asteroid Feb. 11, 2001.

FUSE (Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer)

Launched June 24, 1999 into low Earth orbit, the telescope will explore the universe in the far ultraviolet spectrum.

IMAGE (Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration)

Launched into polar orbit March 25, 2000 to study the Earth's magnetosphere

Terra

Launched December 18, 1999 to study the Earth with a variety of sensors.

Compton Gamma Ray Observatory

Launched April 5, 1991 aboard Shuttle Atlantis, reentered Earth's atmosphere June 4, 2000.

Hubble Space Telescope

Launched April 25, 1990 aboard Space Shuttle Discovery into a 320 mile-high Earth orbit.

Chandra X-ray Observatory

Launched July 24, 1999 aboard Space Shuttle Columbia and is now in High Earth Orbit.

EO-1 (Earth Observing 1)
Launched November 21, 2000 from Vandenburg Air Force Base, California
Earth Observing-1 is the first satellite in NASA's New Millennium Program Earth Observing series.

International Space Station

The Unity, Zveda, Zarya and Destiny modules are currently in orbit about 240 miles above Earth.
The first permanent crew (Expedition 1) boarded the station November 2, 2000 for a 4 month tour of duty.

Mir

Currently orbiting about 225 miles above Earth.  It is due to be de-orbited in March 2001.

Space Shuttle

The next Shuttle mission is by Discovery on STS-102 (Assembly Flight 5A.1) on March 8, 2001.  They will deliver the Expedition 2 crew to the ISS and return the Expedition 1 crew to Earth.



The beautiful Horsehead Nebula in Orion dramatically demonstrates the presence of gas and dust in the vast regions of space between the stars.
(Image © Anglo-Australian Observatory.)
Thanks to Chris for the idea of making this page
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