NASA Missions

Alaska Satellite Facility

A high-latitude ground station in Fairbanks, part of NASA's Near Space Network, heavily used for polar-orbiting Earth-observation satellites.

Apollo 11

Apollo 11 was the NASA mission that in July 1969 first landed humans on the Moon, with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walking on the lunar surface.

Apollo 13

Apollo 13's planned lunar landing was aborted after an oxygen-tank explosion; the crew returned safely in a celebrated rescue.

Apollo 17

Apollo 17 was the final crewed Apollo lunar landing, carrying the first scientist-astronaut to the Moon.

Apollo 8

Apollo 8 was the first crewed mission to leave Earth orbit and orbit the Moon, returning the famous 'Earthrise' photograph.

Apollo Command and Service Module

The Apollo Command and Service Module carried three astronauts to lunar orbit and back; the Command Module was the only part to return to Earth.

Apollo Lunar Module

The Apollo Lunar Module was the two-stage craft that carried two astronauts from lunar orbit to the surface of the Moon and back.

Apollo program

The Apollo program landed the first humans on the Moon between 1969 and 1972, carrying out six crewed lunar landings.

Aqua

NASA's Earth Observing System afternoon satellite, focused on the water cycle — precipitation, evaporation, clouds, and ocean properties.

Artemis I

Artemis I was the uncrewed first flight of the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft on a path around the Moon.

Artemis program

Artemis is NASA's programme to return humans to the Moon and establish a sustainable lunar presence, in partnership with international and commercial partners.

BEAM

BEAM is an expandable (inflatable) module attached to the ISS to demonstrate expandable habitat technology in orbit, building on Bigelow's Genesis demonstrators.

CALIPSO

A NASA–CNES mission using a space lidar to profile aerosols and thin clouds in Earth's atmosphere, flying in the A-Train formation.

Cassini–Huygens

Cassini–Huygens was a NASA–ESA–ASI mission launched in 1997 that orbited Saturn from 2004 to 2017 and delivered the Huygens probe to the surface of its moon Titan.

Chandra X-ray Observatory

The Chandra X-ray Observatory is a NASA space telescope launched in 1999 that observes the universe in X-ray wavelengths.

CloudSat

A NASA mission carrying a cloud-profiling radar that measured the vertical structure of clouds to study their role in climate.

COBE (Cosmic Background Explorer)

NASA's Cosmic Background Explorer, which measured the spectrum and first mapped the anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background.

Commercial Crew Program

NASA's Commercial Crew Program partners with industry to provide crewed transport to the ISS aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon and Boeing's Starliner.

Compton Gamma Ray Observatory

The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (1991–2000) was one of NASA's Great Observatories, mapping the gamma-ray sky and studying gamma-ray bursts.

Curiosity

Mars rover · NASA · launched 2011.

DART

DART was the first planetary-defence test, deliberately impacting the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos to change its orbit.

Dawn

Vesta & Ceres orbiter · NASA · launched 2007.

Deep Space Network (DSN)

NASA's international array of giant radio antennas — at Goldstone (California), Madrid, and Canberra — that communicates with interplanetary spacecraft and distant satellites, spaced around the globe for continuous coverage.

Destiny

Destiny is the primary research laboratory of the US segment of the ISS, used for microgravity science across many disciplines.

Discovery Program

NASA's line of lower-cost, focused planetary science missions, including MESSENGER, Dawn, InSight, Lucy, and Psyche.

Euclid

Euclid is ESA's mission to map the geometry of the dark universe, surveying billions of galaxies to study dark matter and dark energy.

Europa Clipper

Europa Clipper will make dozens of flybys of Jupiter's moon Europa to assess its habitability.

Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope

The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope surveys the entire gamma-ray sky every few hours, studying pulsars, blazars, and gamma-ray bursts.

Freedom 7 (Mercury-Redstone 3)

Freedom 7 carried Alan Shepard on the first United States human spaceflight, a suborbital hop.

Friendship 7 (Mercury-Atlas 6)

Friendship 7 carried John Glenn on the first United States orbital spaceflight, three orbits of the Earth.

Galileo

Jupiter orbiter · NASA · launched 1989.

Goddard Mission Operations

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland operates many Earth-orbiting and astrophysics missions and hosts the Near Space Network's control functions.

GRACE

A twin-satellite mission that mapped tiny variations in Earth's gravity field to track the movement of water, ice, and mass around the planet.

GRACE-FO

The follow-on mission to GRACE, continuing the record of Earth's changing gravity field and the redistribution of water and ice.

Harmony

Harmony (Node 2) is a connecting module that provides docking ports for visiting crewed spacecraft and links the US, European, and Japanese laboratories.

Hinode

Hinode is a Japanese-led solar observatory studying the Sun's magnetic field and corona in visible, ultraviolet, and X-ray light.

Hubble Space Telescope

ICESat-2

A NASA laser-altimetry mission measuring the elevation of ice sheets, glaciers, sea ice, and vegetation to track a changing planet.

Ingenuity

Mars helicopter · NASA · launched 2020.

InSight

InSight was a stationary lander that studied the deep interior of Mars with a seismometer.

International Space Station

The International Space Station is a crewed modular space station in low Earth orbit, operated as a partnership among NASA, Roscosmos, ESA, JAXA, and the CSA.

International Space Station program

The ISS program is the international partnership that builds and operates the continuously crewed International Space Station.

James Webb Space Telescope

Johnson Mission Control Center (MCC-H)

NASA's iconic human-spaceflight control room at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, which has directed crewed missions from Gemini and Apollo to the International Space Station.

Juno

Juno is a NASA space probe launched in 2011 that entered orbit around Jupiter in 2016 to study the planet's composition, gravity, and magnetic field.

Kennedy Space Center

NASA's primary launch centre, home of Launch Complex 39 from which the Apollo Saturn V and the Space Shuttle flew, and now Artemis and commercial crew missions.

Kepler Space Telescope

The Kepler Space Telescope was a NASA space observatory launched in 2009 that discovered thousands of exoplanets by monitoring stars for transit dimming.

Landsat 1

The first satellite of the Landsat program, which began the longest continuous record of Earth's land surface from space.

Leonardo

Leonardo, originally a reusable cargo carrier built by the Italian Space Agency, was permanently attached to the ISS as a storage module.

Lucy

Lucy is touring a record number of asteroids, including several of Jupiter's Trojan asteroids.

Lunar Gateway

The Lunar Gateway is a planned small space station in orbit around the Moon, to be built by NASA and international partners as part of the Artemis program. It is not yet operational.

Magellan

Venus orbiter · NASA · launched 1989.

Mariner 10

Venus & Mercury flyby · NASA · launched 1973.

Mariner program

The Mariner program conducted the first successful flybys and orbits of Mercury, Venus, and Mars.

Mars 2020

Mars rover mission (Perseverance) · NASA · launched 2020.

Mars Exploration Program

NASA's long-running programme of orbiters, landers, and rovers systematically exploring Mars.

Mars Pathfinder

Mars Pathfinder landed using airbags and deployed Sojourner, the first wheeled rover on Mars.

Mars Sample Return

A planned NASA–ESA campaign to return the rock cores cached by the Perseverance rover to Earth.

Mars Science Laboratory

Mars Science Laboratory is the NASA mission that delivered the Curiosity rover to Mars in 2012 to investigate the planet's climate and geology.

MAVEN

MAVEN studies how Mars lost much of its atmosphere to space over billions of years.

MESSENGER

Mercury orbiter · NASA · launched 2004.

Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

A NASA infrared space telescope designed for wide-field surveys of dark energy and exoplanets.

NEAR Shoemaker

NASA's Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous mission, the first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid (433 Eros, 2000) and the first to soft-land on one (2001).

Near Space Network

NASA's network of ground stations and relay satellites (formerly the Space Network's TDRSS and the Ground Network) that supports missions in Earth orbit and near-Earth space.

New Frontiers program

NASA's series of medium-class planetary missions, including New Horizons, Juno, and OSIRIS-REx.

New Horizons

New Horizons is a NASA space probe launched in 2006 that performed the first close flyby of the dwarf planet Pluto in 2015.

Opportunity

Mars Exploration Rover (MER-B) · NASA · launched 2003.

Opportunity (MER-B)

Opportunity was the twin of Spirit, exploring Meridiani Planum for nearly 15 years.

Orion

Orion is NASA's deep-space crew vehicle for the Artemis program, with a European Service Module built by ESA; it flew uncrewed around the Moon on Artemis I.

OSIRIS-REx

OSIRIS-REx collected a sample from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu and returned it to Earth in 2023.

Parker Solar Probe

Parker Solar Probe is a NASA spacecraft launched in 2018 to fly through the Sun's outer atmosphere, making the closest approaches to the Sun of any spacecraft.

Perseverance

Mars rover · NASA · launched 2020.

Pioneer 10

Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to traverse the asteroid belt and fly past Jupiter.

Pioneer 11

Pioneer 11 flew past Jupiter and became the first spacecraft to encounter Saturn.

Pioneer program

The Pioneer program included the first spacecraft to fly through the asteroid belt and past Jupiter and Saturn.

Project Gemini

Project Gemini developed the rendezvous, docking, and spacewalk techniques needed for the Apollo lunar missions.

Project Mercury

Project Mercury was the first United States human spaceflight programme, putting the first American astronauts into orbit.

Psyche

Psyche is travelling to the metal-rich asteroid 16 Psyche to study a possible exposed planetary core.

Quest

Quest is the ISS joint airlock, from which US spacewalks (EVAs) are staged.

Saturn

NASA's family of heavy- and super-heavy-lift rockets developed for the Apollo program — the Saturn I, Saturn IB, and the Moon-launching Saturn V.

Saturn I

NASA's first heavy-lift rocket and the first designed for spaceflight rather than as a missile; it flight-tested Apollo hardware and clustered eight engines in its first stage.

Saturn IB

A NASA medium-lift launch vehicle used for early Apollo Earth-orbit tests, the Skylab crews, and the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project.

Saturn V

The Saturn V was a NASA super heavy-lift launch vehicle that carried the Apollo missions to the Moon and launched the Skylab space station.

Skylab

Skylab was the first United States space station, crewed by three missions in 1973–1974.

Skylab

Skylab was the first United States space station, crewed by three missions in 1973–1974, which carried out solar astronomy and studies of human adaptation to spaceflight.

SMAP

A NASA mission mapping the moisture in Earth's surface soil to improve weather and climate models and monitor drought and floods.

SOHO

SOHO, a joint ESA–NASA mission, has studied the Sun from the L1 point since 1995 and is also the most prolific discoverer of comets.

Sojourner

The microwave-oven-sized rover of Mars Pathfinder, the first wheeled vehicle to operate on Mars.

Solar Dynamics Observatory

The Solar Dynamics Observatory watches the Sun continuously in many wavelengths, capturing the dynamics of solar activity in extraordinary detail.

Solar Orbiter

Solar observatory · ESA / NASA · launched 2020.

Space Launch System

NASA's super-heavy-lift family for the Artemis program, planned in progressively more capable Block 1, Block 1B, and Block 2 configurations.

Space Launch System (SLS)

The Space Launch System is NASA's super heavy-lift launch vehicle developed to carry the Orion spacecraft and crew under the Artemis program.

Space Shuttle

NASA's partially reusable crewed launch system — a winged orbiter with an external tank and two solid rocket boosters — that flew 135 missions building the ISS and servicing Hubble.

Space Shuttle Orbiter

The Space Shuttle Orbiter was a reusable crewed spaceplane that flew 135 missions, deploying satellites and assembling much of the ISS.

Space Shuttle program

The Space Shuttle was NASA's reusable crewed launch system, flying 135 missions between 1981 and 2011.

Spirit

Mars Exploration Rover (MER-A) · NASA · launched 2003.

Spirit (MER-A)

Spirit was one of NASA's twin Mars Exploration Rovers, exploring Gusev crater.

Spitzer Space Telescope

The Spitzer Space Telescope was a NASA infrared space observatory operating from 2003 to 2020.

SWOT

A NASA–CNES mission surveying the height of Earth's surface water — oceans, lakes, and rivers — with unprecedented resolution.

Terra

NASA's flagship Earth Observing System morning satellite, carrying instruments including MODIS and ASTER to study land, ocean, and atmosphere.

TESS

TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) is a NASA space telescope launched in 2018 that surveys nearby bright stars to detect transiting exoplanets.

TIROS-1

The first successful weather satellite, which returned the first television images of Earth's cloud cover in 1960 and founded operational meteorology from space.

TRACE

TRACE (1998–2010) imaged the Sun's transition region and corona in ultraviolet light, revealing the fine structure of magnetic loops.

Tranquility

Tranquility (Node 3) houses much of the ISS life-support equipment and exercise machines, and connects to the Cupola.

Unity

Unity (Node 1) was the first US-built ISS module, a connecting node linking the Russian and US segments of the station.

Viking 1

Mars orbiter & lander · NASA · launched 1975.

Viking 2

Viking 2 was the second Viking orbiter–lander pair, landing in Utopia Planitia on Mars.

Viking program

The Viking program placed two orbiter–lander pairs at Mars, returning the first images from the Martian surface and searching for life.

Voyager 1

Voyager 1 is a NASA space probe launched in 1977 that explored Jupiter and Saturn and has since become the most distant human-made object, traveling in interstellar space.

Voyager 2

Voyager 2 is a NASA space probe launched in 1977 and the only spacecraft to have flown past all four giant planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

Voyager program

The Voyager program sent two probes on a grand tour of the outer planets; both have since entered interstellar space.

Wallops Flight Facility

A NASA range on the Virginia coast used for suborbital research and small orbital launches.

Wallops Ground Station

A NASA Near Space Network ground station on the US east coast, providing tracking and data services for near-Earth missions (distinct from the co-located Wallops launch range).

White Sands Complex

NASA's primary ground terminal for the TDRS relay satellites, in New Mexico. Nearly all Space Network traffic — including from the ISS and Hubble — passes through White Sands.

WMAP (Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe)

NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, which mapped the CMB in detail and pinned down the cosmological parameters.