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NASA space probes: stories to listen to | HearLore
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NASA space probes
Halley ArmadaFive successful space probes converged on Halley's Comet during its 1986 passage through the inner Solar System. This coordinated effort formed what…
Dawn (spacecraft)Harold R. Kaufman built the first working ion thruster in 1959 at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Ohio. This early engine used mercury as its propellant and…
Voyager 2On the 20th of August 1977, NASA launched Voyager 2 from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. This launch was part of a unique planetary…
Cassini–HuygensThe Cassini, Huygens mission began its life in 1982 when the European Science Foundation and the American National Academy of Sciences formed a working group.
Voyager 1Voyager 1 lifted off from Launch Complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on the 5th of September 1977. It rode atop a Titan IIIE launch vehicle…
Mars Exploration RoverNASA launched the Spirit rover on the 10th of June 2003. The Opportunity rover followed shortly after on the 7th of July 2003.
Curiosity (rover)Curiosity touched down on Mars at 05:17:57 UTC on the 6th of August 2012. The landing site sat inside Gale crater near a location now called Bradbury Landing.
New HorizonsIn August 1992, JPL scientist Robert Staehle called Clyde Tombaugh to ask for permission to visit his planet. Tombaugh later remembered the conversation by…
NEAR ShoemakerJohns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory built the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft in the mid-1990s. This robotic probe was designed to study asteroid…
Stardust (spacecraft)Scientists began seeking a dedicated mission to study a comet during the 1980s. Several missions to Comet Halley became the first successful missions to…
Parker Solar ProbeIn 1958, the Fields and Particles Group of the National Academy of Sciences' Space Science Board proposed a mission to send a probe inside Mercury's orbit.
MESSENGERthe 3rd of August 2004 marked the launch of MESSENGER from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. A Delta II rocket carried the spacecraft into a…
Deep Impact (spacecraft)A comet-impact mission first appeared on NASA's desk in 1996. Engineers at the agency were skeptical that a probe could hit such a moving target.
International Cometary ExplorerOn the 12th of August 1978, the International Sun-Earth Explorer-3 satellite lifted off into a heliocentric orbit. This launch marked the beginning of a…