Air and Space: Mission to the Planets

Photo credit: U.S. Geological Survey/NASA/JPL

Mission to the Planets

So far, planets have been beyond the reach of human space flight. But that hasn't stopped us from sending satellites, probes and rovers to planets in the solar system, gathering information about our closest cosmic neighbors. We even use satellites to study Earth! Compare the planetary spacecraft to see how they are designed for specific jobs.



Cassini-Huygens		A spacecraft that arrived at Saturn in July 2004 and dispatched a probe into the thick atmosphere of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan

Explorer 1		The first satellite to be successfully launched into orbit from the United States

Orion Sounding Rocket		A single-stage rocket used to boost scientific experiments into and above Earth's atmosphere

Pioneer Venus		The first American probe to enter the atmosphere of Venus

SAGE 1		A satellite used in the late '70s/early '80s to survey the concentrations of ozone and aerosol particles in the Earth's atmosphere

Sputnik		The first human-made object to orbit the Earth. Sputnik was launched by the Soviet Union in 1957.