This year was a big one for spaceflight, with governmental
During this watershed year, for example, NASA changed course
Here's a brief rundown of the top six spaceflight
The first live-in crew arrived at the International Space
The fact that humanity has an established, decade-long presence on a space
Assembly of the station began in 1998 and is almost
NASA plans to operate the space station until at least 2020.
5. First Successful Solar Sail Mission
For years, engineers have dreamed about powering a craft
Ikaros lifted off on May 20 along
Ikaros is demonstrating the
Japan's space agency, for example, is planning to launch a
Three of the last-ever space shuttle missions lifted off
All of the 2010 shuttle missions delivered key parts and
The STS-131 mission of the shuttle Discovery launched April
Discovery was supposed to make another trip to the station
3. SpaceShipTwo's First Flights
Space tourism made some big strides in 2010, as Virgin Galactic's suborbital space plane SpaceShipTwo
SpaceShipTwo will eventually ferry
Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson publicly unveiled SpaceShipTwo in December 2009. In March 2010, it made its
Next up is a powered test flight, giving SpaceShipTwo
2. SpaceX Launches, Returns
NASA will need help getting cargo to the space station after
On Dec. 8, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) became the first commercial outfit to launch and re-enter a spacecraft
The California-based company lifted its Dragon capsule into
The mission was the first test flight under NASA's
Dragon's next test flight could take it directly to the
1. NASA's New Space Plan
President Barack Obama's new plan for NASA, announced as
Gone, for example, is the Constellation program, which aimed
NASA's new direction isn't responsible for mothballing the
In the short term, Russian Soyuz spacecraft will ferry cargo
NASA would then be free to concentrate on more ambitious
- Top 10 Fantasy Spaceships Becoming Reality
- Gallery: SpaceX's
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