Spacecraft

A spacecraft is a vehicle or machine designed to fly in outer space. It is a term used to describe any sort of craft designed for simple orbital to more advanced space travel, in designs ranging from rockets and probes, to shuttles and spaceships. Spacecrafts can be either manned or unmanned.

Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, planetary exploration, and transportation of humans and cargo.

On a sub-orbital spaceflight, a space vehicle enters space and then returns to the surface, without having gone into an orbit. For orbital spaceflights, spacecraft enter closed orbits around a planet or around other celestial bodies. Manned-spacecraft used for humanoid spaceflight carry people on board as crew or passengers from start or on orbit (space stations) only, whereas those used for robotic space missions operate either autonomously or telerobotically. Robotic spacecraft used to support scientific research are often termed space probes. Robotic spacecraft that remain in orbit around a planetary body are artificial satellites. BY the early 21st Century, only a handful of human-made interstellar probes, such as Pioneer 10 and 11, Voyager 1 and 2, and New Horizons, were on trajectories that left the Solar System.

History

Human spaceflight

See also: Human history of spaceflight

The first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1. It was launched by the Soviet Union

A German V-2 became the first spacecraft when it reached an altitude of 189 km in June of 1944 in Peenemünde, Germany. Sputnik 1 was the first artificial satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit (LEO) by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957. The launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments; while the Sputnik launch was a single event, it marked the start of the Space Age. Apart from its value as a technological first, Sputnik 1 also helped to identify the upper atmospheric layer's density, through measuring the satellite's orbital changes. It also provided data on radio-signal distribution in the ionosphere. Pressurized nitrogen in the satellite's false body provided the first opportunity for meteoroid detection. Sputnik 1 was launched during the International Geophysical Year from Site No.1/5, at the 5th Tyuratam range, in Kazakh SSR (now at the Baikonur Cosmodrome). The satellite travelled at 29,000 kilometers (18,000 mi) per hour, taking 96.2 minutes to complete an orbit, and emitted radio signals at 20.005 and 40.002 MHz

While Sputnik 1 was the first spacecraft to orbit the Earth, other man-made objects had previously reached an altitude of 100 km, which is the height required by the international organization Fédération Aéronautique Internationale to count as a spaceflight. This altitude is called the Kármán line. In particular, in the 1940s there were several test launches of the V-2 rocket, some of which reached altitudes well over 100 km.

21st Century

Humanity has achieved space flight but only a few nations have the technology for orbital launches: Russia (RSA or "Roscosmos"), the United States (NASA), the member states of the European Space Agency (ESA), Japan (JAXA), China (CNSA), India (ISRO), Taiwan (National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, Taiwan National Space Organization (NSPO), Israel (ISA), Iran (ISA), and North Korea (NADA).

During the 21st century, titanium and polymer composites were used in the construction of Earth's early spacecraft.

22nd Century

In 2151, Humanity's first starship capable of warp 5 was launched: Enterprise NX-01. It was the first of a line of ships that would, from a design and organizational point of view, evolve into the ships used by Starfleet into the 24th century and beyond.

File:Xindi probe.jpg

The Xindi weapon prototype

Enterprise had a distinguished service career, but is best known for thwarting the Xindi plan to eradicate Humanity. In the 22nd century, the Sphere-Builders informed the Xindi that they would be the victims of a genocidal attack from Humans in the 26th century, and should act preemptively to eliminate the threat. This was a fabrication on the part of the Sphere-Builders to use the Xindi to their own advantage. The Xindi Council went along with the advice, tested a prototype weapon on Earth in 2153 (resulting in the deaths of nearly 7 million humans), and intended to use a more powerful weapon to destroy the entire planet. This crisis became the most threatening event to Humans as a species since World War III. Enterprise, under the command of Captain Jonathan Archer, was able to both severely damage the Sphere-Builders' technology systems and convince the Xindi that Humans were not their enemy.

23rd Century

In 2243 the duotronic computer is invented by Doctor Richard Daystrom, becoming the primary computing platform for all Starfleet vessels for the following eighty years.

The Federation starship USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) is launched in 2245.

24th Century

“ life is like loading twice your cargo weight onto your spacecraft. If it's canaries and you keep half of them flying all the time, you're alright. ” — Thadiun Okona

Cardassian system-5 disruptors were never designed to operate aboard a moving spacecraft.

The unauthorized use of a spacecraft was considered a crime by Starfleet. In 2375, Tom Paris served thirty days of solitary confinement in the brig of the USS Voyager for this offense, among others.

See also

• List of spacecraft

External link

• Spacecraft at Wikipedia, the free Terran-based encyclopedia that anyone can edit.
• Spacecraft at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
• Spacecraft at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed canon & non-canon Star Trek works.