SPACECRAFT

Main Mission Sites

Sun: SOHO ~ Solar and Heliospheric Observer + Genesis + Ulysses
Moon: Lunar Prospector + Clementine Mission + SMART-1
Mercury: Mariner 10 + MESSENGER
Venus: Magellan + Pioneer Venus + Venera
Mars:  Mars Global Surveyor + Mars Pathfinder + Mars Surveyor '98 + Mars Odyssey + Mars Express
Asteroids:  NEAR ~ Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous
Jupiter:  Galileo
Saturn: Cassini
Planetary Missions: Pioneer 10 and 11 + Voyager I and II
Comets: Stardust + Contour + Deep Impact
Space Telescope: Hubble + Next Generation
The Universe: ISO ~ Infrared Space Observatory + Chandra ~ X-ray Observatory + MAP ~ Microwave Anisotropy Probe
Space Stations: International Space Station + Skylab

Mission in brief

Sun: SOHO
Mercury: Mariner 10
Venus: Magellan
Mars: Viking + Mars Polar Lander + Climate Orbiter
+ Mars Pathfinder + Mars Global Surveyor + Mariner 4
Jupiter: Voyager + Galileo
Uranus: Voyager 2

Big Current and Historical Project Sites (or BCHiPS for short)

European Space Agency (ESA): Horizon 2000 + Sea & Space + Current Missions

NASA: Origins Program + Spaceflight History + Projects

Discovery Program, NASA's faster, better, cheaper Solar System exploration missions:

Contour Mission, The doomed Comet Nucleus Tour.
Dawn launches in May 2006 to study asteroids Ceres and Vesta.
Deep Impact will propel a huge copper projectile into the surface of a comet.
Genesis, a mission that is collecting particles ejected from the Sun.
Kepler due to launch in 2007 will search for Earth-sized planets orbiting distant stars.
Mars Pathfinder put the Sojourner rover on the surface of Mars back in July 1997.
MESSENGER, a scientific investigation of the planet Mercury launching in March 2004.
NEAR ~ Near-Earth Asteroid Rendezvous, the first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid in February 2000.
Lunar Prospector orbited the Moon for 18 months creating detailed maps.
Stardust is heading for an encounter with comet 81P/Wild 2 in January 2004.

New Millennium Program missions testing new systems and instruments in deep space and in orbit around the Earth:

Deep Space 1 + Deep Space 2

Other Spacecraft links

National Space Science Data Centre (NSSDC): Planetary Missions
View the International Space Station: Heavens Above + NASA Human Spaceflight
MARS is Britain's amateur space programme. Find out more

NASA ~ National Aeronautics and Space Administration
JPL ~ Jet Propulsion Laboratory
ESA ~ European Space Agency

You can help! - In order for a spaceprobe to reach small object like a comet or an asteroid, the more information about the object the better. This is where amateur astronomers can help. By observing the target object, orbits and flight paths can be more accurately predicted. Here's a list of possible targets so you can help future space missions.

For all your rocketry needs visit: Encyclopedia Astronautica (absolutley thoroughly recommended!)

Features

Manned Flight: Was Sergei Vladimir Ilyushin, JR. the first man in space?

All about Rocketry

The Story of Rockets
From the invention of fireworks to the Space Shuttle
- how our journey into space has evolved.