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International Space Station
International Space Station Continuing on from the United States' Skylab and Russia's Mir, the International Space Station (ISS) represents a permanent human presence in space. The space station is located in orbit around the Earth at an altitude of approximately 386 km, a type of orbit usually termed low Earth orbit. (The actual height varies over time by several kilometres due to atmospheric drag and reboosts.) It orbits Earth at a period of about 92 minutes; on December 1, 2003 it had completed over 28,700 orbits since launch. It is serviced primarily by the Space Shuttle, and Soyuz and Progress spacecraft units. It is still being built, but is home to some experimentation already. At present, the station has a capacity for a crew of three, who

James Webb Space Telescope
James Webb Space Telescope The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a planned orbital infrared observatory, intended (in part) to replace the aging Hubble Space Telescope. Formerly called the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST), it was renamed after NASA's second administrator, James E. Webb, in 2002. The telescope's launch is planned for sometime between 2009 and 2011. Its orbit (at the L2 lagrangian point point, around 1.5 million km from Earth) is considerably beyond the maximum altitude achievable using the Space Shuttle, so JWST will probably be placed in orbit using a European Ariane 5 launcher. This height also means that, unlike Hubble, it will not be possible to repair or upgrade the observatory during its 5-10 year design life. Although JWST has a planned weight half that

While all of this was going on, others were suggesting a completely different approach to the future. They stated that NASA was better off using the existing Saturn to launch their space station, supplied and manned using modified Gemini capsules on top of the Air Force's newer Titan II-M. The cost of development for this looked to be considerably less than the shuttle alone, and would have a large space station in orbit earlier.

Space Shuttle Endeavour
Space Shuttle Endeavour Shuttle Orbiter Endeavour (NASA Designation: OV-105) is the most recent Space Shuttle orbiter to be built. Construction began in 1987 to replace the Challenger, lost in an accident in 1986. Endeavour was first launched in 1992. The orbiter is named for the HM Bark Endeavour, the ship commanded by 18th century explorer James Cook (which explains the British spelling). Table of contents showTocToggle("show","hide") 1 Flights 2 Related articles 3

Space Shuttle program
Space Shuttle program Space Shuttle Columbia, 1981 (NASA) NASA's Space Shuttle program is an ongoing endeavor, started in the late 1960s, that has created the world's first partially reusable space launch system, and the first spacecraft capable of carrying large satellites both to and from low Earth orbit. Each shuttle is designed for a projected lifespan of 100 launches. The original purpose of the program was to ferry supplies to a space station. In reality, the Shuttle is the United States' sole manned launch vehicle and has totally dominated NASA's operations since the mid 1970s. With the construction of the International Space Station the Shuttle has finally begun to be used for its original purpose. In January 2004, it was announced that the Shuttle fleet would

Jean Michel Jarre
displays and fireworks. One of his albums, Musique pour supermarchés had a print run on only a single copy, which was auctioned to raise money for French artists. In 1986 he worked with NASA; astronaut Ronald McNair was to play the saxophone part of Jarre's piece Rendez-Vous VI while in orbit on board the Space Shuttle Challenger. It was to have been the first piece of music recorded in space, for the album Rendez-Vous. After the Challenger disaster of January 28, 1986, the piece was recorded with a different saxophonist, retitled Ron's piece and the album dedicated to the seven Challenger astronauts. He was married to actress and photographer Charlotte Rampling. He is a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. Discography Oxygene (1976) Equinoxe (1978) Magnetic fields (Les Chants Magnétiques) (1981) Concerts in China

Methuselah in False Color 5/24/05

An outcrop dubbed "Methuselah," approached by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit in April 2005, presented a more extensive exposure of layered rock than Spirit had found in the all its preceding 15 months since landing on Mars. This view of Methuselah by Spirit's panoramic camera is presented in false color. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell

Canadian space program
Canadian space program Canada has contributed expertise and personnel to the world space effort, especially in collaboration with NASA. Eight Canadians have participated on 11 NASA missions to date: Name Shuttle Mission Launch Date Notes Marc Garneau Challenger STS-41-G October 5, 1984 First Canadian in space Roberta Bondar Discovery STS-42 January 22, 1992 First Canadian woman in space Steven G. MacLean Columbia STS-52 October 22, 1992 Chris Hadfield Atlantis STS-74 November 12, 1995 Marc Garneau Endeavour STS-77 May 19, 1996 Robert Thirsk Columbia STS-78 June 20, 1996 Bjarni Tryggvason Discovery STS-85 August 7, 1997 Dafydd Rhys Williams Columbia STS-90 April 17, 1998 Julie Payette Discovery STS-96 May 27, 1999 Marc Garneau Endeavour STS-97 November 30, 2000 Chris Hadfield Endeavour STS-100 April 19, 2001 First spacewalk by a

Houston, Texas
covers about 600 square miles in area, and is also the largest city in the United States which does not have zoning laws. Houston is world renowned for its energy industry (particularly oil),aeronautics industry and ship channel. The Port of Houston is the second busiest port in the United States, fifth busiest in the world. Because of the economic trades, many residents have moved in from other U.S. states, as well as hundreds of countries worldwide. Officially, Houston has been nicknamed the Space City. "Houston" was the first word uttered on the moon, as Neil Armstrong reported back to NASA. It is known by the locals, however, as the Bayou City. (Other nicknames include "Clutch City", and "Magnolia City".) The city had placed an unsuccessful bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Discover NASA

With the budgets being pressed by inflation at home and the Vietnam war abroad, Congress and the Administration generally couldn't care less about anything as long-term as space exploration and were therefore looking to make further deep cuts to NASAs budget. But with a single long term project on the books, there wasn't much they could do in terms of cutting whole projects -- the shuttle was all that was left, cut that and there would be no US manned space program by 1980.

NASA had conducted a series of paper-projects throughout the 1960s on the topic of reusable spacecraft to replace their expedient "one-off" systems like Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo.