L'esplorazione spaziale è l'esplorazione fisica degli oggetti non terrestri e più in generale tutto ciò che rigurda la tecnologia, la scienza e la politica finalizzata ad essa.

Con il lancio dello Sputnik 1, il primo satellite artificiale in orbita intorno alla Terra, l'esplorazione spaziale ebbe una grande accelerazione, che scaturì nella cosiddetta corsa allo spazio tra Unione Sovietica e Stati Uniti. Il risultato fu il raggiungimento, in quegli anni, d importanti traguardi: il primo uomo nello spazio, Yuri Gagarin a bordo del Vostok 1, e le prime persone sulla Luna, Neil Armstrong e Buzz Aldrin a bordo dell'Apollo 11. Dopo trent'anni di competizione, gli sforzi si stanno concentrando nella cooperazione tra paesi con l'obiettivo ad esempio, di costruire piattaforme di lancio extra-terrestri da stazioni spaziali o anche dalla Luna.

From a spaceflight perspective, the definition of space usually used is that space begins 100 km (62 miles) above Earth's surface. The United States sometimes uses a 50 mile definition. (See boundary to space.)

Achieving orbit is essential for going anywhere else, such as to the Moon or Mars. The first successful orbital launch was of the Soviet unmanned Sputnik I mission on October 4, 1957. This spectacular success led to an escalation of the American space program, and to an undeclared Space Race between the two superpowers. Soviet dog Laika became the first animal in orbit on November 3, 1957. The first orbital flight made by a human being was Vostok 1, carrying Yuri Gagarin on April 12 1961.

One can distinguish the sub-orbital spaceflight and the orbital spaceflight (cf. Difference between sub-orbital and orbital spaceflights). As for sub-orbital flights, on October 3, 1942 an A4 rocket, a prototype for the German V2 rocket bomb, became the first successful launch of an object into space. The first organisms launched into space were fruit flies and corn seeds aboard a U.S.-launched V2 rocket in July, 1946. Another milestone was achieved on May 17, 2004 when Civilian Space eXploration Team launched the GoFast Rocket on a suborbital flight, the first amateur space flight. On June 21, 2004, SpaceShipOne became the first privately-funded manned spacecraft.

L'Agência Espacial Brasileira, fondata nel 1994, dirige uno dei programmi spaziali più recenti e sicuramente il più avanzato di tutto il Sudamerica. Subì la maggior sconfitta nel 2003 a causa dell'esplosione di un razzo sulla rampa di lancio che causò l'uccisione di diversi tecnici. Ottennero il primo successo il 23 ottobre 2004 con un VSV-30 (Brazilian Exploration Vehicle), lanciato in una missione sub-orbitale. Il centro di lancio principale dell'agenzia si trova a Alcântara.

L'Agenzia Spaziale Canadese (CSA o, in francese ASC) è il dipartimento governativo responsabile del programma spaziale del Canada. È stata costituita nel marzo 1989.

[[:Image:China_(223).jpg|right|thumb|The UN and PRC flags in orbit during the Shenzhou 5 mission.]] The China National Space Administration is the civilian agency in the People's Republic of China that is responsible for national space policy. The agency was created in 1993 when the Ministry of Aerospace Industry was split in two, with the other part being the China Aerospace Corp. China became only the third country on Earth to send a human into space independently on October 15, 2003 when Yang Liwei piloted the Shenzhou V mission, accomplishing 14 orbits before returning to Earth the next day.

In Oct 12, 2005 China sent its second spacecraft into space, the ShenZhou 6. The ShenZhou 6 carries 2 astronauts and it stayed in space for 5 days. The China National Space Administration agency allowed most television stations in China to broadcast the blast-off.

The Indian Space Research Organisation, also known as ISRO, was established on August 15, 1969 under the Department of Atomic Energy of the Government of India. It manages all of India's space activities, and has a well developed space programme.

ISRO has capability to build and launch satellites up to 2000 kg into polar and geostationary orbit. It has 2 major satellite launch vehicles called PSLV (Polar satellite launch vehicle) and GSLV (Geostationary satellite Launch Vehicle). Most of ISRO's programs are geared towards nation building, though there are a few efforts in scientific research and space exploration. ISRO has started the work on its first Unmanned Lunar program called Chandrayan-1 (Moon-Ship-1) which is slated to be launched by 2007.

The Japan Aerospace eXploration Agency, or JAXA, is Japan's aerospace agency. It was formed October 1, 2003, by the merger of NASDA, the National Aerospace Laboratory of Japan and the Institute of Space and Aeronautical Science.

See Suparco.

The Russian Aviation and Space Agency (RKA) (in Russian: Российское авиационно-космическое агентство) is the government agency responsible for Russia's space science program and general aerospace research. It was formed after the breakup of the Soviet Union and the dissolution of the Soviet space program.

The National Space Agency of Ukraine (NSAU) is the Ukrainian government agency responsible for space policy and programs, established in 1992. It oversees Ukraine's national and commercial space research, construction, and launch programs. Launches are conducted in Kazakhstan, Russia, and on the Sea Launch platform.

n July 29, 1958, President Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). When it began operations on October 1, 1958, NASA consisted mainly of the four laboratories and some 8,000 employees of the government's 46-year-old research agency for aeronautics, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA).

In general, it is hugely more expensive to perform certain tasks in space by humans than by robots or machines. Humans need large spacecraft by comparison, which contain many extra provisions such as a hermetic and temperature controlled cabin, production of breathable air, food and drink storage, waste disposal, voice- and other communication systems, and many more extra safety systems, such as crew escape systems, medical facilities etc. Apart from specific provisions there is also the security of the spacecraft as whole; losing a robot is nowhere near as dramatic as human loss, so overall safety of the mission (ie safe return) isn't near as much an issue. All these extra expenses have to be weighed against the value of having humans aboard, given that launching one pound into orbit by space shuttle costs roughly US$10,000. Some critics argue that those few instances where human intervention was essential do not justify the enormous extra costs of having humans aboard.

Other critics, such as the physicist and Nobel-prize winner Richard Feynman, contend that space travel has never achieved any major scientific breakthrough. Some critics also contend that in light of the huge distances in space, human space travel will never be able to do more than achieve an earth orbit or at best visit our closest neighbours in the solar system, and even this will consume huge amounts of money and will require extremely complex spacecraft which will accommodate only a handful of people. Supporters of human space travel state that this is irrelevant, because its real value lies in providing a focal point for national prestige and patriotism. They suggest that this was the reason why the Clinton administration cooperated closely with Russia on the International Space Station: it gave Russia something to take pride in, and as such became a stabilizing factor in post-communist Russia. From this point of view, the ISS was a justifyable cash outlay.

Some people also have moral objections to the huge costs of space travel, and point out that even a fraction of the space travel budget would make a huge difference in fighting disease and hunger in the world even though space exploration itself receives a very small percentage of total government spending (nearly always under 0.5%).

Overall, however, the public remains largely supportive of both manned and unmanned space exploration. According to an Associated Press Poll conducted in July 2003, 71% of US citizens agreed with the statement that the space program is "a good investment," compared to 21% who did not (Pollingreport.com).

Data	Successo	Paese	Nome missione
1946	Animale nello spazio (fruit flies)	USA-ABMA	V2
21 agosto 1957	ICBM	USSR	R-7/SS-6 Sapwood
4 ottobre 1957	Satellite artificiale	USSR	Sputnik 1
3 novembre 1957	Animale in orbita (cane)	USSR	Sputnik 2
31 gennaio 1958	Scoperta delle fasce di Van Allen	USA-ABMA	Explorer I
18 dicembre 1958	Satellite per comunicazioni	USA-ABMA	Progetto SCORE
14 settembre 1959	Sonda per la Luna	USSR	Luna 2
17 febbraio 1959	Satellite meteo	USA-NASA (NRL)1	Vanguard 2
7 agosto 1959	Immagine della Terra dallo spazio	USA-NASA	Explorer 6
August 18 1960	Reconnaissance satellite	USA-Air Force	KH-1 9009
April 12 1961	uomo in orbita	USSR	Vostok 1
March 18 1965	Attività extra-veicolare	USSR	Voskhod 2
December 15 1965	Orbital rendezvous2	USA-NASA	Gemini 6A/Gemini 7
March 1 1966	Probe to another planet	USSR	Venera 3
July 21 1969	Human on the Moon	USA-NASA	Apollo 11
April 23 1971	Space station	USSR	Salyut 1
July 15 1975	First U.S.-USSR joint mission	USSR USA-NASA	Apollo-Soyuz Test Project

¹Project Vanguard was transferred from the NRL to NASA immediately before launch.
² The Soviet Union had attempted an earlier rendezvous on August 12, 1962; However, Vostok 3 and Vostok 4 were only within five kilometers of one another, and were in different orbital planes. Pravda, however, did not mention this information and indicated that rendezvous had been accomplished.

Date	First Success	Country	Mission Name
October 2 1978	Non-American and non-Soviet in space	USSR	Soyuz 28
April 12 1981	Reusable manned spacecraft	USA-NASA	STS-1
June 13 1983	Extra-solar system spacecraft	USA-NASA	Pioneer 10
September 11 1985	Comet probe	USA-NASA	International Cometary Explorer
April 28 2001	Space tourist	Russia USA	Soyuz TM-32
June 21 2004	Privately developed manned spacecraft	USA-MAV	SpaceShipOne 15P

The first reusable spacecraft, the Space Shuttle, was launched by the USA on the 20th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's flight, on April 12, 1981. During the Shuttle era, six orbiters were built, all of which have flown in the atmosphere and five of which have flown in space. The Enterprise was used only for approach and landing tests, launching from the back of a Boeing 747 and gliding to deadstick landings at Edwards AFB, California. The first Space Shuttle to fly into space was the Columbia, followed by the Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour. The Endeavour was built to replace the Challenger when it was lost in January 1986. The Columbia broke up during reentry in February 2003.

The first (and so far only) automatic reusable spacecraft was the Buran (Snowstorm), launched by the USSR on November 15, 1988, although it made only one flight. This spaceplane was designed for a crew and strongly resembled the U.S. Space Shuttle, although its drop-off boosters used liquid propellants and its main engines were located at the base of what would be the external tank in the American Shuttle. Lack of funding, complicated by the dissolution of the USSR, prevented any further flights of Buran.

• Programma Pioneer
• Programma Luna
• Programma Zond
• Programma Venera
• Programma Ranger
• Programma Mariner
• Programma Surveyor
• Programma Viking
• Programma Voyager
• Programma Vega
• Programma Phobos
• Programma Discovery

Main articles: Astronauts and human spaceflight

• List of human spaceflights
• List of human spaceflights chronologically
• List of human spaceflights by program
• Vostok program
• Mercury program
• Voskhod program
• Gemini program
• Soyuz program
• Programma Apollo
• Programma Salyut
• Skylab
• Programma Space Shuttle
• Mir
• International Space Station
• Shenzhou
• Crew Exploration Vehicle
• Vision for Space Exploration
• Programma Aurora
• Tier One
• Human adaptation to space

• Esplorazione di Marte
• Future energy development
• Turismo spaziale
• Private spaceflight
• Colonizzazione dello spazio
• Viaggio interstellare

• Stazione spaziale
• Sopravvivenza nello spazio
• Disastri spaziali
• Matematica spaziale

• Wikimedia Commons contiene immagini o altri file su Simone/sandbox2

• http://space.skyrocket.de/
• http://www.planet4589.org/space/
• http://www.nasa.gov
• http://www.spacelist.org
• National Space Society - non-profit organization that promotes a spacefaring civilization
• Recent Developments In Space Exploration
• Benefits of Space Exploration - bibliography fom NASA.gov
• Technology Spinoffs from Space Exploration - NASA.gov
• 20 minute video essay on space exploration

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