Abstract Among of the highlights of the $ 20^{th} $ century were flights of spacecraft to other bodies of the Solar System. This paper describes briefly the missions attempted, their goals, and fate. Information is presented in five tables on the missions launched, their goals, mission designations, dates, discoveries when successful, and what happened if they failed. More detailed explanations are given in the accompanying text. It is shown how this enterprise developed and evolved step by step from a politically driven competition to intense scientific investigations and international cooperation. Initially, only the USA and USSR sent missions to the Moon and planets. Europe and Japan joined later. The USSR carried out significant research in Solar System exploration until the end of the 1980s. The Russian Federation no longer supports robotic planetary exploration for economic reasons, and it remains to be seen whether the invaluable Russian experience in planetary space flight will be lost. Collaboration between Russian and other national space agencies may be a solution.
Planetary Missions of the 20th Century*
Cosmic Research ; 40 , 5
2002
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Englisch
BKL: | 55.60 Raumfahrttechnik / 39.00 Astronomie: Allgemeines / 50.93 Weltraumforschung | |
Lokalklassifikation TIB: | 770/3520/8000 |
Planetary Missions of the 20th Century*
Springer Verlag | 2002
|Technology Needs of Planetary Missions of the 21st Century
British Library Conference Proceedings | 1999
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