Reusable launch vehicleVehicles that can go to space and returnRecovery of Falcon 9 first-stage booster after its first landing
Blue OriginBlue Origin Enterprises, L.P. is a private American space technology company headquartered in Kent, Washington. The company operates the suborbital New Shepard rocket and the heavy-lift New Glenn rocket. In addition to producing engines for its own rockets, Blue Origin supplies engines for other vehicles, including United Launch Alliance's Vulcan Centaur.
Takeoff and landingAircraft have different ways to take off and land. Conventional airplanes accelerate along the ground until reaching a speed that is sufficient for the airplane to take off and climb at a safe speed. Some airplanes can take off at low speed, this being a short takeoff. Some aircraft such as helicopters and Harrier jump jets can take off and land vertically. Rockets also usually take off vertically, but some designs can land horizontally.
Falcon 9Falcon 9 is a partially reusable, two-stage-to-orbit, medium-lift launch vehicle designed and manufactured in the United States by SpaceX. The first Falcon 9 launch was on June 4, 2010, and the first Commercial Resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) launched on October 8, 2012. In 2020, it became the first commercial rocket to launch humans to orbit.
List of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launchesAs of September 6, 2026, rockets from the Falcon 9 family have been launched 698 times, with 695 full mission successes, two mission failures during launch, one mission failure before launch, and one partial failure.
McDonnell Douglas DC-XThe DC-X, short for Delta Clipper or Delta Clipper Experimental, was an uncrewed prototype of a reusablesingle-stage-to-orbitlaunch vehicle built by McDonnell Douglas in conjunction with the United States Department of Defense's Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO) from 1991 to 1993. Starting 1994 until 1995, testing continued through funding of the US civil space agency NASA.
Lunar Lander ChallengeThe Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge (NG-LLC) was a competition funded by NASA's Centennial Challenges program. The competition offered a series of prizes for teams that launch a vertical takeoff/vertical landing (VTVL) rocket that achieved the total delta-v needed for a vehicle to move between the surface of the Moon and its orbit.
Blue Origin GoddardBlue Origin Goddard is the name of the first development vehicle in Blue Origin's New Shepard program, which flew for the first time on November 13, 2006. Named after rocketry pioneer Robert H. Goddard, the vehicle is a subscale demonstrator and flew up to a height of about 85 m (279 ft) during its initial flight. The private spacecraft venture is being funded by the billionaire founder Jeff Bezos.
Apollo Lunar ModuleNASA crewed Moon landing spacecraft (1969–1972)The Apollo Lunar Module (LM), originally designated the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), was the lunar landerspacecraft that was flown between lunar orbit and the Moon's surface during the United States' Apollo program. It was the first crewed spacecraft to operate exclusively in space, and remains the only crewed vehicle to land anywhere beyond Earth.
Apollo program1961–1972 American crewed lunar exploration programThe Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program led by NASA, which landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969. The Apollo program was conceived in 1960 in the Dwight D. Eisenhower presidency during Project Mercury and executed after Project Gemini.
MoonNatural satellite orbiting EarthSurface absorbed doserate13.2 μGy/h(during lunar daytime)Surface equivalent doserate57.0 μSv/h(during lunar daytime)Apparent magnitude−2.5 to −12.9−12.74 (mean full moon)Absolute magnitude (H)0.2Angular diameter29.3 to 34.1 arcminutesAtmosphereSurface pressure10 Pa (1 picobar) (day)10 Pa (1 femtobar) (night)Composition by volumeHeArNeNaKHThe Moon is the only natural satellite of Earth.
Human spaceflightSpaceflight with a crew or passengers Part of a series onSpaceflight History History of spaceflight Space Race Timeline of spaceflight Space probes Lunar missions Mars missions Applications Communications Earth observation Exploration Espionage Military Navigation Colonization Habitation Exploration Telescopes Tourism Spacecraft Robotic spacecraft Satellite Space probe Cargo spacecraft Crewed spacecraft Apollo Lunar Module Space capsules Space Shuttle Space stations Spaceplanes Vostok Space launch Spaceport Launch pad Expendable and reusable launch vehicles Escape velocity Non-rocket spacelaunch Spaceflight types Sub-orbital Orbital Interplanetary Interstellar Intergalactic List of space organizations Space agencies Space forces Companies Spaceflight portalvte Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin on the Moon, 1969Gemini 4 astronaut Ed White in open space, 1965Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide taking a space selfie in 2012 Human spaceflight (also referred to as crewed spaceflight, and historically as manned spaceflight) is spaceflight with a crew or passengers aboard a spacecraft, often with the spacecraft being operated directly by the onboard crew.
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