Whois & Analysis for astronautix.com

The Encyclopedia Astronautica is a reference web site on space travel.

A comprehensive catalog of vehicles, technology, astronauts, and flights, it includes information from most countries that have had an active rocket research program, from Robert Goddard to the NASA Space shuttle to the Soviet Shuttle Buran.

Space exploration is the ongoing discovery and exploration of celestial structures in outer space by means of continuously evolving and growing space technology.

While the study of space is carried out mainly by astronomers with telescopes, the physical exploration of space is conducted both by unmanned robotic space probes and human spaceflight.

A spacecraft is a vehicle, or machine designed to fly in outer space.

Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, planetary exploration, and transportation of humans and cargo.

An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft.

Although generally reserved for professional space travelers, the terms are sometimes applied to anyone who travels into space, including scientists, politicians, journalists, and tourists.

Spaceflight (also written space flight) is ballistic flight into or through outer space.

Spaceflight can occur with spacecraft with or without humans on board.

Examples of human spaceflight include the U.S. Apollo Moon landing and Space Shuttle programs and the Russian Soyuz program, as well as the ongoing International Space Station.

Examples of unmanned spaceflight include space probes that leave Earth orbit, as well as satellites in orbit around Earth, such as communications satellites.

These operate either by telerobotic control or are fully autonomous.