Space Exploration

This page contains links to space exploration websites, including current missions, future missions, Hubble space telescope sites, mission information, and space exploration timelines. These links are provided by Sea and Sky as a courtesy to our visitors in an attempt to make these resources easy to find and use. By clicking on the links below, you will leave the Sea and Sky site. Sea and Sky is not responsible for the content of these external sites. Problems with these external links should be reported to the Sea and Sky administrator.

• 2001 Mars Odyssey
  2001 Mars Odyssey is part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the red planet.

• Dawn - Journey to the Asteroid Belt
  Dawn, as a mission belonging to NASA’s Discovery Program, delves into the unknown, drives new technology innovations, and achieves what's never been attempted before as it explores asteroids in the main asteroid belt..

• Chandra X-ray Observatory
  NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory is a telescope specially designed to detect X-ray emission from very hot regions of the Universe such as exploded stars, clusters of galaxies, and matter around black holes.

• Insight Mars Lander
  InSight will place a single geophysical lander on Mars to study its deep interior. It will also help to understand the processes that shaped the rocky planets of the inner solar system (including Earth) more than four billion years ago. Currently scheduled to launch in March 2016.

• Juno Mission to Jupiter
  Juno will improve our understanding of the solar system’s beginnings by revealing the origin and evolution of Jupiter. It will study Jupiter's atmosphere, and magnetic field to try to understand how the giant planet formed.

• Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
  The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, launched August 12, 2005, is on a search for evidence that water persisted on the surface of Mars for a long period of time.

• Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)
  LRO will spend at least a year in a low polar orbit approximately 31 miles (50 kilometers) above the surface of the Moon, searching for safe landing sites, locating potential resources, measuring radiation, and testing new technology.

• Mars Science Laboratory
  The Mars Science Laboratory mission set down a large, mobile laboratory, known as Curiosity, at Gale Crater on Mars. Curiosity continues to explore the Red Planet looking for signs of life.

• Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN)
  The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission is set to launch in 2013 and will explore the Red Planet’s upper atmosphere, ionosphere and interactions with the sun and solar wind.

• New Horizons Mission to Pluto and Beyond
  In 2006, NASA dispatched an ambassador to the planetary frontier. The New Horizons spacecraft flew past the icy planet Pluto and its moons in July 2015 and is now headed for the Kuiper belt.

• Solar and Helioshperic Observatory (SOHO)
  SOHO, the Solar & Heliospheric Observatory, is a project of international collaboration between ESA and NASA to study the Sun from its deep core to the outer corona and the solar wind.

• Cassini Mission to Saturn
  The Cassini spacecraft performed an up-close study of the ringed planet and its domain. The Saturn System has provided an incredible wealth of opportunities for exploration and discovery.

• Kepler - A Search for Habitable Planets
  The Kepler Mission surveyed our region of the Milky Way galaxy and discovered Earth-size and smaller planets near the habitable zone and determined how many stars in our galaxy that might have such planets.

• Lunar Atmosphere Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE)
  The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) was a robotic mission that orbited the moon to gather detailed information about the lunar atmosphere, conditions near the surface and environmental influences on lunar dust.

• Mars Exploration Rovers
  NASA's Spirit and Opportunity rovers explored the Martian surface making new discoveries and sending back amazing images of the Red Planet.

• Spitzer Space Telescope
  The Spitzer space telescope is designed to detect infrared radiation, which is primarily heat radiation. It is the largest infrared telescope ever launched into space, and has sent back amazing images of previously hidden regions of the universe.

• Euclid Space Telescope
  Euclid is a European Space Agency (ESA) mission designed to accurately measure the expansion history of the universe and the growth of cosmic structures. Currently scheduled to launch in 2020.

• James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)
  Formerly known as the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST), the James Webb Space Telescope will be a large infrared telescope with a 6.5-meter primary mirror. It is widely seen as the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. Tentatively schedules to launch in March 2021.

• ESA's Space Telescope Site
  The European Space Agency (ESA) operates this extensive Hubble site, featuring news, information images, videos, educational material, and an online Hubble store.

• Hubblesite
  Hubblesite is a public Web site for the Hubble Space Telescope, featuring news and information about Hubble, information about astronomy, and a gallery of Hubble's best high resolution images.

• HubbleSource
  HubbleSource features a growing collection of resources for educators, developers, interpreters, producers, and other professionals in museums, planetaria, nature centers, observatory & park visitor centers, and other free-choice learning venues.

• NASA's Hubble Space Telescope Page
  NASA's official page for the Hubble Space Telescope features information, links, images, and videos.

• Space Telescope Science Institute (STSI)
  STSI is a free-standing science center, located on the campus of The Johns Hopkins University, that operates the science program for the Hubble Space Telescope.

• NASA Missions A to Z
  Information and links for all NASA space missions in alphabetical order from A to Z.

• NASA JPL Current Missions
  Information and links for all current space missions, including Earth science and planetary exploration.

• NASA JPL Future Missions
  Information and links for upcoming space missions, including Earth science and planetary exploration.

• NASA JPL Past Missions
  Information and links for past space missions, including Earth science and planetary exploration.

• National Archives Space Exploration Timeline
  The National Archives features a space exploration timeline with information about space exploration events from 1957 to the present.

• Sea and Sky's Space Exploration Timeline
  Sea and Sky features a space exploration timeline with information about space exploration events from 1687 to the present.

• SPACE.com 50 Years of Spaceflight
  A timeline by Space News and SPACE.com chronicling the first 50 years of spaceflight. Take a walk through the half century of space exploration and click related links for more in depth information.

• Wikipedia Timeline of Space Exploration
  A detailed timeline of space exploration including notable achievements and first accomplishments or major events in humanity's exploration of outer space.