space exploration: Quick Facts

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Oct. 19, 2026

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Photos and Videos

Astronaut outside the International Space Station

Hurricane Irene

Cassini-Huygens spacecraft

Partially assembled International Space Station orbiting above Earth with its large solar arrays extended.

Sojourner rover examining a boulder on Mars

Ann Robinson and Gene Barry stand together amid the wreckage of a destroyed building in a scene from the 1953 film The War of the Worlds.

Top five milestones in space exploration history

Mars exploration: Opportunity and Curiosity rovers

Astronaut holding a rainbow lollipop against a starfield, with arrows toward text reading: Sugar in Space?

X-15 rocket-powered research aircraft launching from beneath the wing of a U.S. Air Force B-52.

Witness the first extravehicular activity in space: a space walk performed by astronaut Edward White on the Gemini 4 mission

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Topics

recovery docking International Academy of Astronautics Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center space program reentry rendezvous staging interplanetary exploration space suit Multimessenger astronomy Cosmology Celestial mechanics 10 Women Scientists Who Should Be More Famous Radio and radar astronomyradar astronomy Infrared astronomy Planetarium Astronomical unit astrobiology Observable universe

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Key People

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Charles M. Duke, Jr.

American astronaut

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Paul J. Weitz

American astronaut

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Russell Louis Schweickart

American astronaut

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Ellison Onizuka

American astronaut

Photograph of Satish Dhawan

Satish Dhawan

Indian aerospace engineer and space scientist

From outer space to the U.S. Senate

Mark Kelly

American astronaut and United States senator

Peggy Whitson

Peggy Whitson

American biochemist and astronaut

Sally Ride

Sally Ride

American astronaut

Sunita Williams

Sunita Williams

American astronaut

Neil Armstrong

Neil Armstrong

American astronaut

Stephanie Wilson

Stephanie Wilson

American astronaut

John Glenn

John Glenn

American astronaut and politician

Susan Helms, 2001.

Susan Helms

American astronaut and Air Force officer

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Michael Griffin

American aerospace engineer

Kalpana Chawla

Kalpana Chawla

Indian-born American astronaut

Peake, Tim

Tim Peake

British astronaut and military officer

Nicollier, Claude

Claude Nicollier

Swiss test pilot and astronaut

Portrait of NASA astronaut Christina Koch wearing an orange flight suit with mission patches and an American flag.

Christina Koch

American astronaut

Ellen Ochoa

Ellen Ochoa

American astronaut and administrator

Anne McClain after her first spaceflight

Anne McClain

American astronaut

The orbits of the planets and other elements of the solar system, including asteroids, Kuiper belt, Oort cloud, comet

Space Odyssey

Earth from space. Full-hemisphere views of the Earth showing Hurricane Linda at its peak approaching Baja California on 1997 September 11.

Human Exploration: From Earth to Space

Soil cohesiveness demonstrated in bootprint of Buzz Aldrin, Apollo 11. footprint; foot print; moon

Space Exploration

View of the Andromeda Galaxy (Messier 31, M31).

Astronomy and Space Quiz

Buzz Aldrin. Apollo 11. Apollo 11 astronaut Edwin Aldrin, photographed July 20, 1969, during the first manned mission to the Moon's surface. Reflected in Aldrin's faceplate is the Lunar Module and astronaut Neil Armstrong, who took the picture.

Exploration and Discovery

Nicolaus Copernicus. Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543) Polish astronomer. In 1543 he published, forward proof of a Heliocentric (sun centered) universe. Coloured stipple engraving published London 1802. De revolutionibus orbium coelestium libri vi.

All About Astronomy

Edwin E. Aldrin (Buzz Aldrin) stands on the moon, Apollo 11

Famous Astronauts and Cosmonauts

The Space Shuttle Columbia soars from Launch Pad 39A on July 1 1997 to begin the 16-day STS-94 Microgravity Science Laboratory-1 (MSL-1) mission.

Space Records