spacecraft

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Telstar 1 communications satellite with a spherical, panel-covered top and cylindrical base, displayed indoors.

Infographic detailing the Apollo program, featuring labeled diagrams of the Apollo Saturn V rocket, command and service modules, lunar module, and the Apollo mission flight path from Earth to the Moon and back. Key components such as engines, hatches, antennas, and fuel tanks are identified, with callouts explaining each module's role and functions. The lower section illustrates each stage of the Apollo flight path, showing the sequence of launch, lunar landing, and return to Earth.

Apollo 11 lunar module Eagle, 1969

Apollo 15 Command and Service modules, 1971

Discovery liftoff, 1985

Galileo spacecraft

The two GRAIL spacecraft, Ebb (right) and Flow (left).

Diagram showing the Apollo Saturn V rocket with labeled stages and spacecraft modules, including the command, service, and lunar modules, at launch and during their journey to the Moon. Insets explain each module's function and configuration changes from launch to lunar travel.

spacecraft: Media

technology

Images

Sputnik 3

Sputnik 3

Sputnik 3, the first multipurpose space-science satellite placed in orbit. Launched...

Tass/Sovfoto

Telstar 1 communications satellite with a spherical, panel-covered top and cylindrical base, displayed indoors.

Telstar 1

American-built Telstar 1 communications satellite, launched July 10, 1962, which...

NASA

Infographic detailing the Apollo program, featuring labeled diagrams of the Apollo Saturn V rocket, command and service modules, lunar module, and the Apollo mission flight path from Earth to the Moon and back. Key components such as engines, hatches, antennas, and fuel tanks are identified, with callouts explaining each module's role and functions. The lower section illustrates each stage of the Apollo flight path, showing the sequence of launch, lunar landing, and return to Earth.

Apollo program infographic.

The Apollo program: Major elements of the U.S. Apollo program, showing the Saturn...

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc./Patrick O'Neill Riley

Apollo 11 lunar module Eagle, 1969

Apollo 11 lunar module Eagle, 1969

Apollo 11 lunar module Eagle with its four landing-gear footpads deployed....

NASA

Apollo 15 Command and Service modules, 1971

Apollo 15 Command and Service modules, 1971

Apollo 15 Command and Service modules in lunar orbit with the Moon's surface in the...

NASA

Discovery liftoff, 1985

Discovery liftoff, 1985

U.S. space shuttle orbiter Discovery lifting off from the Kennedy Space...

Johnson Space Center/NASA (s85-26185)

Galileo spacecraft

Galileo spacecraft

NASA's Galileo spacecraft making a flyby of Jupiter's moon Io, in an artist's rendering.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (PIA18176)

The two GRAIL spacecraft, Ebb (right) and Flow (left).

The two GRAIL spacecraft, Ebb (right) and Flow (left).

NASA/Kennedy Space Center

Diagram showing the Apollo Saturn V rocket with labeled stages and spacecraft modules, including the command, service, and lunar modules, at launch and during their journey to the Moon. Insets explain each module's function and configuration changes from launch to lunar travel.

Apollo program: launch vehicle and spacecraft modules

Major elements of the U.S. Apollo program, showing the Saturn V launch vehicle and...

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

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