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NASA Science Missions

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Mission Key

  • Universe
  • Solar System
  • Sun
  • Earth
Past
ASCA Mission Image

ASCA (formerly named Astro-D) was Japan's fourth cosmic X-ray astronomy mission, and the second... View Mission

Past
Astro 1 Mission Image

The "Astro Observatory" was developed as a system of telescopes that could fly multiple times on... View Mission

Past
BXRT Mission Image

The Broad Band X-ray Telescope (BBXRT) was flown on the space shuttle Columbia (STS-35) on... View Mission

Past
CGRO Mission Image

The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory was the second of NASA's Great Observatories. Compton, at 17... View Mission

Operating

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory was launched and deployed by Space Shuttle Columbia on July 23... View Mission

Past
CHIPS Mission Image

The Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer (CHIPS) was a University-Class Explorer (UNEX)... View Mission

Past
COBE Mission Image

The purpose of the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) mission was... View Mission

Past
DXS Mission Image

The Diffuse X-ray Spectrometer (DXS) was a single experiment shuttle payload designed to fly on... View Mission

Future
Euclid

Euclid is an ESA-led Medium-class mission, part of ESA’s Cosmic Vision program, to map the... View Mission

Past
EUVE Mission Image

The Extreme-Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE) was a spinning spacecraft designed to rotate about the... View Mission

Operating

Launched in June 2008, Fermi, NASA's largest gamma-ray observatory, has opened a wide window on... View Mission

Past
FUSE Mission Image

The Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer FUSE was a NASA supported mission that launched June... View Mission

Past
GALEX Mission Image

The Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) was an orbiting space... View Mission

Past
GEMS Mission Image

The Gravity and Extreme Magnetism Small Explorer (GEMS) did not pass its confirmation review in... View Mission

Past
Gravity Probe B

NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and Stanford University developed a sophisticated... View Mission

Past
HALCA Mission Image

Launched on February 12, 1997 HALCA, also called VSOP, Muses-B or Haruka (meaning "far away"),... View Mission

Future

The HaloSat mission will address the question: Is there a massive, extended, hot halo around the... View Mission

Past
Herschel Mission Image

The Herschel Space Observatory was a space-based telescope that... View Mission

Past
HETE 1 Mission Image

The prime objective of the HETE spacecraft was to carry out the first multiwavelength study of... View Mission

Past
HETE 2 Mission Image

After the launch failure of the HETE-1 spacecraft, it was determined that gamma ray burst... View Mission

Past
Hipparcos Mission Images

ESA's Hipparcos was the first space mission dedicated to measuring the positions, distances,... View Mission

Past
Hitomi Mission Images

ASTRO-H (formerly known as NeXT and renamed Hitomi) was launched on February 17, 2016 by the... View Mission

Operating

The Hubble Space Telescope's launch in 1990 sped humanity to one of its greatest advances in... View Mission

Past
IEH-3

Seven experiments made up the IEH-3 payload on the STS-95 Space Shuttle mission. The seven... View Mission

Operating
INTEGRAL

ESA's INTEGRAL is providing new insight into the most violent and exotic objects of the Universe... View Mission

Past
ISO

ISO was an infrared space telescope designed and operated by ESA in cooperation with ISAS (part... View Mission

Past

The IUE satellite was launched on January 26, 1978. It had an expected lifetime of 3 years,... View Mission

Past
IXO

The International X-ray Observatory (IXO) was an X-ray astronomy mission with joint... View Mission

Past

Take all the stars, all the planets and everything we can see and detect with telescopes and add... View Mission

Past
KAO

For over twenty years, the Kuiper Airborne Observatory (KAO) was operated as the world's only... View Mission

Past
Keck Interferometer (KI)

The Keck Interferometer was a ground-based component of NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program. At... View Mission