Since 1945, NACA (NASA's predecessor) and, since 1958, NASA have conducted the X-Plane Program. The program was originally intended to create a family of experimental aircraft not intended for production beyond the limited number of each design built solely for flight research. The first X-Plane, the Bell X-1, was the first rocket-powered airplane to break the sound barrier on October 14, 1947. X-Planes have set numerous milestones since then, both manned and unmanned.
NASA has successfully launched over 100 manned flights. Two have ended in failure, causing the death of the entire crew: STS-51-L (the Challenger disaster) in 1986, and STS-107 (the Columbia disaster) in 2003. (Apollo 1 in 1967 lost three crew members but never launched.)
Notes:
On May 7, 2009 the Obama Administration announced the launch of an independent review of planned U.S. human space flight activities with the goal of ensuring that the nation is on a vigorous and sustainable path to achieving its boldest aspirations in space. The review was conducted by a panel of experts led by Norman Augustine, the former CEO of Lockheed Martin, who served on the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology under both Democrat and Republican presidents.
The "Review of United States Human Space Flight Plans" was to examine ongoing and planned National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) development activities, as well as potential alternatives and present options for advancing a safe, innovative, affordable, and sustainable human space flight program in the years following Space Shuttle retirement. The panel worked closely with NASA and sought input from the United States Congress, the White House, the public, industry, and international partners as it developed its options. It presented its results on October 22, 2009.
In February 2010, Obama announced his proposal to cancel the Constellation Program as part of the 2011 Economic Projects. Constellation was officially cancelled by the NASA Budget Authorization Act on 11 October 2010.
NASA brought the Orion MPCV back to life from the defunct Constellation Program and successfully test launched the first capsule on December 5, 2014 aboard EFT-1. After a near perfect flight traveling 3600 miles above Earth, the spacecraft was recovered for study. NASA plans to use the Orion crew vehicle to send humans to deep space locations such as the Moon, Near Earth Asteroids, and Mars starting in the 2020s. Orion will be powered by NASA's new heavy lift vehicle, the Space Launch System (SLS), which is currently under development. Orion's next flight, along with the first SLS flight, is slated to launch no later than November 2018, with the designation of Exploration Mission 1. This mission will send an uncrewed Orion capsule around the Moon. It will be succeeded by Exploration Mission 2, sending a crewed Orion spacecraft to an undetermined location in the early 2020s.
Anomalous Transport Rocket Experiment (ATREX) – five consecutive launches, 80 seconds apart on March 27, 2012, studied the high-altitude jet stream .
Biosatellite 1, 2 and 3
Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE)
- Earth Observing System
Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE)
NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) – National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS)
Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS)
Echo 1 and 2
- Great Observatories
Chandra X-ray Observatory
Compton Gamma Ray Observatory
Hubble Space Telescope – ESA partnership
Spitzer Space Telescope (formerly known as the Space Infrared Telescope Facility, SIRTF)
- High Energy Astronomy Observatory program
High Energy Astronomy Observatory 1 (HEAO 1)
Einstein Observatory (HEAO 2) first fully imaging X-ray telescope
High Energy Astronomy Observatory 3 (HEAO 3)
Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE)
Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS)
- Landsat program
Landsat 1
Landsat 2
Landsat 3
Landsat 4
Landsat 5
Landsat 6
Landsat 7
Landsat Data Continuity Mission
- Living With a Star
Van Allen Probes – Twin probes studying the Van Allen radiation belt
Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)
Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR)
- New Millennium Program (NMP)
Earth Observing-1 (EO-1)
Space Technology 5 (ST5)
Space Technology 6 (ST6)
NanoSail-D & NanoSail-D2
Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO)
- Origins program
Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE)
Kepler searching for Earth-sized exoplanets in the habitable zone
Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS)
- Small Explorer program (SMEX)
Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM)
Fast Auroral Snapshot Explorer (FAST)
Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX)
Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX)
Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) – X-ray telescope orbiting Earth
Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) – Sun observing, Earth satellite
Solar Anomalous and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer (SAMPEX)
Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS)
Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) – Sun observing, Earth satellite
Wide Field Infrared Explorer (WIRE)
- Solar Terrestrial Probes program
Hinode (Solar-B)
Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED)
Two Wide-angle Imaging Neutral-atom Spectrometers (TWINS)
Uhuru
Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP)
Clementine
Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL)
-Lunar Orbiter program
Lunar Orbiter 1
Lunar Orbiter 2
Lunar Orbiter 3
Lunar Orbiter 4
Lunar Orbiter 5
- Lunar Precursor Robotic Program (LPRP)
Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS)
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)
Lunar Prospector
Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) – instrument for ISRO's Chandraayan-1
-Pioneer program
Pioneer 0
Pioneer 1
Pioneer 2
Pioneer P-1
Pioneer P-3
Pioneer P-30
Pioneer P-31
Pioneer 3
Pioneer 4
- Ranger program
Ranger 1
Ranger 2
Ranger 3
Ranger 4
Ranger 5
Ranger 6
Ranger 7
Ranger 8
Ranger 9
- Surveyor program
Surveyor 1
Surveyor 2
Surveyor 3
Surveyor 4
Surveyor 5
Surveyor 6
Surveyor 7
- Mariner program
Mariner 4
Mariner 6 and 7
Mariner 8
Mariner 9
- Mars Exploration Rovers
Spirit rover
Opportunity rover
Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Odyssey
- Mars Pathfinder
Sojourner rover
- Mars Polar Lander
Deep Space 2 (DS2) – (sub-surface probes)
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
- Mars Science Laboratory (MSL)
Curiosity rover
- Mars Scout program
Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN)
Phoenix
- Viking program
Viking 1
Viking 2
- Discovery Program
Deep Impact (primary) – EPOXI (extended)
- New Millennium Program (NMP)
Deep Space 1 (DS1) – first spacecraft propelled by an Ion thruster
Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous - Shoemaker (NEAR Shoemaker) – close study of 433 Eros
- New Frontiers program
Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) – launched September 2016
Stardust – follow-up for Deep Impact's primary mission to 9P/Tempel
Cassini–Huygens – Saturn and its moons
Dawn – Vesta in 2011-2012, and Ceres in 2015
Galileo – Jupiter and its moons
Juno – Jupiter
Magellan (Venus Radar Mapper)
- Mariner program – Venus
Mariner 1
Mariner 2
Mariner 5
Mariner 10 – first to Mercury
MESSENGER – first to orbit Mercury
- New Frontiers program
Juno Spacecraft Mission – Jupiter-bound for polar orbit in 2016
New Horizons – Pluto and its moons in 2015
- Pioneer program
Pioneer 5 – interplanetary space between Earth and Venus
Pioneer 6, 7, 8, and 9 – Solar wind, solar magnetic field and cosmic rays
Pioneer 10 – first to the asteroid belt and Jupiter
Pioneer 11 – asteroid belt and Jupiter, first to Saturn
Pioneer Venus project
- Voyager program
Voyager 1 – Jupiter, Saturn
Voyager 2 – Jupiter, Saturn, first to Uranus and Neptune
Genesis – returned sample of solar wind
- Living With a Star
Balloon Array for RBSP Relativistic Electron Losses (BARREL) – two campaigns of 20 balloons each, studying the Van Allen radiation belts, 2012 to 2014 This mission is complement to the Van Allen Probes (RBSP).
Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)
Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) – ESA partnership
Solar Maximum Mission (SolarMax)
- Solar Terrestrial Probes program
Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS) – launch readiness date was October 2014, launched on 13 March 2015 at 02:44 UTC.
Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO)
Ulysses (spacecraft) – ESA partnership
InSight – Seismology and geodesy Mars lander planned for launch in 2018
Solar Probe Plus – expected to be the first mission into the Sun's corona, slated to launch in 2018
- Origins program
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) – ESA partnership – launch scheduled for 2018
Comet Rendezvous Asteroid Flyby (CRAF)
Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO)
Mars Astrobiology Explorer-Cacher (MAX-C)
Mars Telecommunications Orbiter (MTO)
- Origins program
Space Interferometry Mission (SIM)
Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF)
Pluto Kuiper Express (PLUTOKE) – replaced by New Horizons
- Mars Scout program
Aerial Regional-scale Environmental Survey (ARES) (2000-10 concept)
TAU (spacecraft)- probe to 1000 AU (1980s concept)
