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2017 In Spaceflight
Notable spaceflight activities in 2017 included the maiden flight of India's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (also called LVM3) on 5 June and the first suborbital test of Rocket Lab's Electron rocket, inaugurating the Mahia spaceport in New Zealand. The rocket is named for its innovative Rutherford engine which feeds propellants via battery-powered electric motors instead of the usual gas generator and turbopumps. Overview China launched its new missile-derived Kaituozhe-2 variant on 2 March. The Japanese SS-520, a suborbital sounding rocket modified for orbital flight, failed to reach orbit in January. If successful, it would have become the smallest and lightest vehicle to ever put an object in orbit. The venerable Russian Soyuz-U workhorse was retired after its 786th mission on 22 February. On 30 March, the SES-10 mission was launched with a previously flown Falcon 9 first stage, achieving a key milestone in the SpaceX reusable launch system developm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cassini–Huygens
''Cassini–Huygens'' ( ), commonly called ''Cassini'', was a space research, space-research mission by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Italian Space Agency (ASI) to send a space probe to study the planet Saturn and its system, including its Rings of Saturn, rings and Moons of Saturn, natural satellites. The Large Strategic Science Missions, Flagship-class robotic spacecraft comprised both NASA's ''Cassini'' space probe and ESA's Huygens (spacecraft), ''Huygens'' lander (spacecraft), lander, which landed on Saturn's largest moon, Titan (moon), Titan. ''Cassini'' was the fourth space probe to visit Saturn and the first to enter its orbit, where it stayed from 2004 to 2017. The two craft took their names from the astronomers Giovanni Domenico Cassini, Giovanni Cassini and Christiaan Huygens. Launched aboard a Titan IV, Titan IVB/Centaur on October 15, 1997, ''Cassini'' was active in space for nearly 20 years, with 13 years spent orbiting Saturn and studying the pla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
