Space Programs
As of 2011, human spaceflight missions have been conducted by the former Soviet Union/(Russian Federation), the United States, the People's Republic of China and by the private spaceflight company Scaled Composites.
Several other countries and space agencies have announced and begun human spaceflight programs by their own technology, including India (ISRO), Ecuador (EXA), Japan (JAXA), Iran (ISA) and Malaysia (MNSA).
Currently the following spacecraft and spaceports are used for launching human spaceflights:
- Soyuz with Soyuz rocket—Baikonur Cosmodrome
- International Space Station (ISS)—Assembled in orbit; crews transported by previous spacecraft
- Shenzhou spacecraft with Long March rocket—Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center
- Tiangong-1—crews transported by Shenzhou spacecraft
Historically, the following spacecraft and spaceports have also been used for human spaceflight launches:
- Vostok—Baikonur Cosmodrome
- Mercury—Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
- Voskhod—Baikonur Cosmodrome
- X-15—Edwards Air Force Base, (two internationally recognized suborbital flights in program)
- Gemini—Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
- Apollo—Kennedy Space Center (Apollo 7 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station)
- Salyut space station—Baikonur Cosmodrome
- Almaz space station—Baikonur Cosmodrome (Almaz was a series of military space stations under cover of the civilian name Salyut)
- Skylab space station—Kennedy Space Center
- Mir space station—Baikonur Cosmodrome
- SpaceShipOne with White Knight—Mojave Spaceport
- Space Shuttle—Kennedy Space Center
Numerous private companies attempted human spaceflight programs in an effort to win the $10 million Ansari X Prize. The first private human spaceflight took place on June 21, 2004, when SpaceShipOne conducted a suborbital flight. SpaceShipOne captured the prize on October 4, 2004, when it accomplished two consecutive flights within one week. SpaceShipTwo, launching from the carrier aircraft White Knight Two, is planned to conduct regular suborbital space tourism.
Most of the time, the only humans in space are those aboard the ISS, whose crew of six spends up to six months at a time in low Earth orbit.
NASA and ESA now use the term "human spaceflight" to refer to their programs of launching people into space. Traditionally, these endeavors have been referred to as "manned space missions."
Read more about this topic: Human Spaceflight
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