• 9964432222
  • Mail Us
  • Appointment
  • Locate Us
  • Chat Now
  • Courses
  • Login
  • Register
Manifest IAS
JournalsOfIndia
Advertisement
  • Home
  • SNIPPETSfor Prelims
  • ARTICLESfor Mains
  • BROWSEBY SOURCE
  • DOWNLOADS
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • SNIPPETSfor Prelims
  • ARTICLESfor Mains
  • BROWSEBY SOURCE
  • DOWNLOADS
No Result
View All Result
JournalsOfIndia
No Result
View All Result
Home Science & Tech

Space X expedition

Getting ready for frontiers of space and making it possible for everyone to dream

August 26, 2020
in Science & Tech
Reading Time: 5 mins read
0
Space X expedition
305
VIEWS
Share on WhatsAppShare on TelegramShare on Facebook
image_pdfMake PDF

Developments in space technology are reaching new heights. With a future plan of sending humans to live on Mars, the new Space X launch is one such milestone. It is required to know the facts about the stage by age development of space shuttles, mainly from prelims point of view.

In news SpaceX has launched two astronauts to orbit
Placing it in syllabus Space mission

Dimensions

  • Space shuttles
  • SpaceX expedition

ContentSpace shuttles:

  • Space shuttle, also called Space Transportation System, is a partially reusable rocket-launched vehicle designed to go into orbit around Earth and to transport people and cargo to and from orbiting spacecraft.
  • It was developed by NASA of the USA. 
  • It lifted off into space for the first time on April 12, 1981 and made 135 flights until the program ended in 2011.
  • NASA began work on an Integrated Launch and Re-entry Vehicle (ILRV) in 1968, and by 1969 the space shuttle’s development received approval from then-President Richard Nixon. 
  • The original vision of the space shuttle program was to develop a vehicle that would launch into space very frequently (several times a month) to deploy and repair satellites as required. 

The shuttle program had five space shuttles:

  1. Columbia (1981-2003): This was the first space shuttle to fly in space. Operational missions began in 1982. Some of its major mission activities included Spacelab, deploying the Chandra X-Ray Observatory and servicing the Hubble Space Telescope. In 2003 during landing the shuttle broke up in the atmosphere, killing its seven-person crew.
  2. Challenger (1983-1986): Challenger was originally constructed as a test vehicle and then was upgraded for spaceflight. Its major mission milestones included launching the first Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, flying the first American female astronaut (Sally Ride), flying the first African-American (Guion Bluford) and the first astronaut repair of a satellite (the Solar Maximum Mission satellite). The shuttle exploded on Jan. 28, 1986, killing all seven astronauts on board.
  3. Discovery (1984-2011): It flew 39 missions and some of the major payloads it released included the Hubble Space Telescope, the sun-bound Ulysses spacecraft and the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite. It flew Mercury astronaut John Glenn at age 77, making him the oldest person to fly in space to date. Discovery was also the first shuttle to fly “return to flight” missions after both the Challenger and Columbia disasters. It was decommissioned after its last flight in 2011.
  4. Atlantis (1985-2011): The first mission of this shuttle was a secret military mission in 1985. Some of its other activities included launching the Magellan spacecraft toward Venus, launching the Galileo probe toward Jupiter, flying most of the missions of the shuttle-Mir program and flying the last space shuttle mission (STS-135 in 2011).
  5. Endeavour (1992-2011): Endeavour was constructed out of spare parts from other space shuttles, as a replacement for the Challenger space shuttle that exploded in 1986. During Endeavour’s first mission in 1992, crewmembers performed the first three-person spacewalk. It was the first shuttle to participate in assembly of the International Space Station.

SpaceX expedition:

  • SpaceX, a private company of the USA, for the first time, launched two astronauts Robert L. Behnken and Douglas O. Hurley into orbit.
  • It was the first launch of NASA astronauts from the United States since the retirement of the space shuttles in 2011. 
  • Since 2011, NASA’s astronauts have had to travel to Russia and train on the country’s Soyuz spacecraft which cost heavy for NASA.
  • In 2014, NASA awarded a $2.6 billion contract to SpaceX, which planned to create a crew worthy version of the Dragon spacecraft that was already flying cargo to and from the International Space Station.
  • The Falcon 9 rocket carried a Crew Dragon capsule and lifted off from “39A” launch pad of Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. 
  • The two astronauts have been trained to fly the Crew Dragon capsule, which is only the fifth spacecraft design, after the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and Space Shuttle vehicles that NASA has certified as safe enough for humans.

About Crew Dragon:

  • It’s a gumdrop-shaped capsule, about 13 feet in diameter and is equipped with seven seats and touchscreen controls.
  • It is fully autonomous, so that the astronauts just need to monitor the systems and keep in touch with mission control.
  • It is also equipped with a unique emergency abort system designed to jettison astronauts to safety if something goes wrong.
  • According to a 2019 report from NASA’s Office of the Inspector General, the Crew Dragon seats will cost NASA about $55 million each. 

One of SpaceX’s main goals is to bring down the costs of launching objects into space by reusing hardware. E.g. Dragon capsules that fly cargo, have been used up to three times. And since 2015, SpaceX has managed to safely land a Falcon 9’s first-stage booster, dozens of times.

SpaceX would attempt to recover the recent rocket’s first-stage booster by landing it on a seafaring drone ship after launch. SpaceX’s most ambitious reuse efforts will be with Starship – a very large spacecraft currently in the early stages of development.

Mould your thought Brief about the history of space shuttles. How is the recent SpaceX expedition a game changer for NASA?
image_pdfMake PDF
Tags: GS-3Mains

Related Posts

ASHA Workers Honoured By WHO

ASHA Workers Honoured By WHO

May 25, 2022
Biological Research Regulatory Approval Portal (BioRRAP)

Biological Research Regulatory Approval Portal (BioRRAP)

May 24, 2022
Retinoblastoma

Retinoblastoma

May 23, 2022
Wild Poliovirus detected in Mozambique

Wild Poliovirus detected in Mozambique

May 23, 2022
Project WARDEC

Project WARDEC

May 23, 2022
Nipah virus

Nipah virus

May 21, 2022
Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV)

Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV)

May 21, 2022
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

May 19, 2022
Human-rated S200 rocket booster

Human-rated S200 rocket booster

May 17, 2022
Mystery ‘space debris’ found in Gujarat

Mystery ‘space debris’ found in Gujarat

May 17, 2022
Please login to join discussion

Our Offline Classroom Student

PRELIMS 2021 POLITY QUESTIONS ANALYSED

https://youtu.be/5q8hBcRGhAs

PRELIMS 2021 HISTORY QUESTIONS ANALYSED

https://youtu.be/v0SIZ7SUybg

CONGRATULATIONS TO 2020 TOPPERS !!!

Rank 25 Vaibhav Rawat 

Rank 218 Kankanala Rahul Reddy
Rank 385 Sagar A Wadi
Rank 504 Malashree MV
Rank 573 Shridevi B V
Rank 707 Mamatha G

COURSES OFFERED

PRELIMS SURESHOTS

May 2022
MTWTFSS
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031 
« Apr    

Browse by Category

  • Agriculture
  • Disaster Management
  • Economy
  • Environment
  • Ethics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Geography
  • Governance
  • History
  • Law & Policy
  • Opinion
  • People in News
  • Places in News
  • Science & Tech
  • Security
  • Society
  • Sports
  • Uncategorized

Browse by Tags

AIR BBC Business Standard CNN Deccan Herald DownToEarth Down to Earth DTE Economic Times ET GS-1 GS-2 GS-3 GS-4 Hindustan Times IE India & the world Indian express India today Indiatoday Kurukshetra LiveMint Mains News News Paper Newspaper PIB PIB & The Hindu pre Prelims PRS India RSTV Science Reporter Survey The Hindu The Hindustan Times The India Express The Indian Express The New Indian Express Times of India TOI TOPPERS UNDP website Wikipedia Yojana
JournalsOfIndia

Our vision is to orient the readers to grasp the facts objectively and analyse critically. In the rush of reaching first to the readers, the websites miss the balanced opinion, which is the need of the hour. We aim to reach the readers with more crispness, preciseness and relevance. We bring the articles in UPSC way for the civil services aspirants and the Wisest Way for general readers.

Categories

  • Agriculture
  • Disaster Management
  • Economy
  • Environment
  • Ethics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Geography
  • Governance
  • History
  • Law & Policy
  • Opinion
  • People in News
  • Places in News
  • Science & Tech
  • Security
  • Society
  • Sports
  • Uncategorized

Browse by Tag

AIR BBC Business Standard CNN Deccan Herald DownToEarth Down to Earth DTE Economic Times ET GS-1 GS-2 GS-3 GS-4 Hindustan Times IE India & the world Indian express India today Indiatoday Kurukshetra LiveMint Mains News News Paper Newspaper PIB PIB & The Hindu pre Prelims PRS India RSTV Science Reporter Survey The Hindu The Hindustan Times The India Express The Indian Express The New Indian Express Times of India TOI TOPPERS UNDP website Wikipedia Yojana

Newsletter

The most important UPSC news and events of the day.

Get Journals daily newsletter on your inbox.

© 2020 JournalsOfIndia - A free initiative by Manifest Team.

  • Login
  • Sign Up
  • Home
  • SNIPPETS
  • ARTICLES
  • BROWSE
  • DOWNLOADS
No Result
View All Result

© 2020 JournalsOfIndia - A free initiative by Manifest Team.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In