UK Spaceports
lightweight satellite.
Credit: NASA
Satellites
lightweight satellite.
Credit: NASA
Tiangong Space Station
Tiangong is a space station engineered and maintained by the Chinese space agency. Tiangong means ‘heavenly palace’ in Chinese.
Tiangong is large enough for 6 astronauts to live and work there at a time but there is usually a crew of just 3 people on board. It has been home to Chinese astronauts since June 2022.
Dorothy Vaughan
Credit: Unknown author
Occupation: Mathematician and Human Computer
Year born: 1910
Research Areas: Computer Programming
Claudia Alexander
Credit: NASA
Occupation: Planetary Scientist
Year born: 1959
Research Areas: Jupiter’s Moons, Comets
"I feel like a modern-day explorer; the last frontier is space"
Mir Space Station
the shuttle Endeavour
Credit: NASA
Robots and Space Probes
Credit: NASA
As well as sending people into space, humans have sent robots and space probes all over the Solar System. These have even gone out beyond our Solar System into open space!
Skylab
Credit: NASA
The Future of Space Exploration
What will the future of space exploration hold? At the moment there are more than 70 government space agencies. These include the American agency, NASA and the European agency, ESA. There are also a number of commercial companies, like SpaceX. All of these groups have plans for the next giant leaps forward in space exploration.