Space programs around the world & their notable achievements

Space is the ultimate frontier for mankind to explore. Without space programs, we wouldn’t have GPS, accurate weather prediction. Solar cells or the ultraviolet filters in your sunglasses or cameras. Space exploration could help save or for that matter even extend it. To reduce the threats of things like asteroids we have devised robust space programs. Some of the notable programs from around the world are mentioned here:

1.CNSA (Chinese National Space Agency):

The CNSA was formed by the Chinese government in 1993. The headquarters are in Haidian District, Beijing. The China National Space Administration, an agency within the Commission of Science and Technology, and Industry for National Defense currently headed by Zhang Kejian is now responsible for launches. The Long March rocket is produced by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, and satellites are produced by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. The latter organizations are state-owned enterprises; however, it is the intent of the PRC government that they should not be actively state-managed and that they should behave much as private companies would in the West.

2.ESA (European Space Agency):

The European Space Agency is an intergovernmental organization with 22 member countries established in 1975 with the purpose of exploring space. Its headquarters are in Paris.

ESA’s space flight program includes human spaceflight (predominantly via participation in the International Space Station program); the launch and operation of exploration missions without any crew to other planets and the Moon; Earth observation, science, and telecommunication; designing launch vehicles; and maintaining a major spaceport, the Guiana Space Centre at Kourou, French Guiana. The primary European launch vehicle Ariane 5 is operated by Arianespace with ESA sharing in the costs of launching and further designing this launch vehicle. The agency is also working with NASA to manufacture the Orion Spacecraft service module, that will fly on the Space Launch System. In 1978, the ESA collaborated with NASA to create the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE), the world’s first high-orbit telescope.

3.ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization):

India’s technology in this field has grown rapidly in keeping pace with its economy. ISRO has really taken big leaps in its course. It was started & curated by Vikram Sarabhai & Homi Bhaba in the year 1945 right after India’s Independence.

In 1969, INCOSPAR turned into the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and began embarking on a space program. In 1975, ISRO built its first satellite (Aryabhata), which was launched by the Soviet Union. In 1980, India launched its first satellite (Rohini) using an Indian-made rocket (SLV-3).

In October 2008, ISRO sent its first mission to the Moon (Chandrayaan-1) and its first mission to Mars – Mangalyaan, or the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) – in November 2013, this probe entered Mars orbit on September 24th, 2014, making India the first nation to do so in the first attempt.

4.NASA (National Aeronautics & Space Administration):

The name of NASA is well-documented. From sending astronauts into orbit in the late 50s and 60s to sending the first human beings to the Moon, and to the exploration of the inner and outer Solar System – no space agency has matched NASA’s historic legacy. It all began in the 1940s as NACA.

Within months of its inception, NASA began to conduct several major programs. Already, the first American satellite (Explorer 1) had been launched into space and documented the existence of radiation zones encircling the Earth (the Van Allen Belts).

Beyond sending astronauts to space and to the Moon, NASA also invested itself in exploring the planets of the Solar System using robotic spacecraft. The primary example is the Pioneer Program, which began in 1958 and remained in operation for 20 years.