Space probes and manned spacecrafts
Space probes are unmanned space shuttles with scientific material on board. They are intended either to pass, travel in orbit round or land on a celestial body in order to return data to the Earth.
The first human spaceflight was Vostok 1 on April 12, 1961. The Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin made one orbit around the Earth. |
 |
| Manned spacecrafts |
 You have certainly on occasion dreamed of being able to fly like a bird. If so, you are not alone. The thought of being able to lift up from the surface of the Earth's ground and perhaps get a chance to travel in space has absorbed many people since the earliest times. |
 |
| Apollo missions |
 In order to get to the moon a compound spacecraft was needed. It was called Apollo and could accommodate three astronauts. Apollo was used in the Apollo programme that was announced in 1961 and lasted till 1972. |
|
| The space shuttle |
 You have certainly seen the space shuttle on TV several times. It looks like an aeroplane fastened to a large cylinder-shaped tank.
The space shuttle is a spacecraft where bearing and control surfaces give sufficient lift and steering so that it may return to the Earth, land on the runway and be reused several times.
|
|
| Space stations |
 A space station is a larger, manned spacecraft constructed in order to orbit round the Earth for years. The crew and equipment of a space station are changed regularly by means of spacecraft bringing new teams to the station. |
|
| The international space station |
 The international space station (ISS) is a large, permanently manned space station with a considerable degree of international participation. The space station is a whirling space laboratory circling in orbit round the Earth about 400 km above the surface of the Earth and at a speed of 28 000 kilometres an hour. The main purpose of the space station is to carry out research in a weightless milieu without the effect of gravity. |
|
|
