Spaceships and Rockets
Learn more about spaceships and rockets enabled by NASA.
Space Stations
From low Earth orbit to the Moon, these space stations are the ultimate homes away from home.
Spaceships and Rockets
What is a rocket?
A rocket is used to carry a spacecraft from Earth’s surface to space, usually to low Earth orbit or beyond, and is sometimes called a launch vehicle.
Although rockets may appear similar, no two are alike because they are complex devices with millions of pieces and systems that must be calculated and constructed to work together. A rocket is chosen based on the spacecraft’s mission requirements. For example, the farther away from Earth the spacecraft needs to go, the bigger and more powerful the rocket needs to be.
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Space Launch System
Combining power and capability, NASA’s Space Launch System rocket is part of NASA’s backbone for deep space exploration and Artemis. SLS is the only rocket that can send Orion, astronauts, and cargo directly to the Moon in a single launch.
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Commercial Crew Rockets
These commercial rockets are launching crews to low Earth orbit through partnerships with NASA.
A new generation of rockets capable of carrying astronauts to low Earth orbit and the International Space Station provides expanded utility, additional research time, and broader opportunities for discovery on the orbiting laboratory.
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Commercial Resupply Rockets
These companies are successfully resupplying the space station.
Safe, reliable, and affordable commercial access low Earth orbit is a critical component of NASA’s path for human exploration. The research being conducted aboard the space station made possible by cargo transportation services also advances NASA’s future deep space exploration objectives.
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More Rockets
Explore additional uncrewed rockets delivering spacecraft that observe Earth, visit other planets and explore the universe.
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Spaceships and Rockets
What is a spacecraft?
A spacecraft is a vehicle that flies in space. It can carry astronauts, cargo, or instruments to their destination, or it can be the destination. The International Space Station is a spacecraft, just like the smaller vehicles that deliver crew and cargo to it.
Spacecraft launch on rockets and have their own propulsion and navigation systems that take over after they separate from the rocket, propelling them to other worlds in our solar system. Their main purpose lies in transporting payloads — or anything within the vehicle beyond what is essential to operate in space — to their destination. For example, for the Artemis II Moon mission, a human crew and other experiments will be carried aboard the Orion spacecraft.
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Orion Spacecraft
NASA’s Orion spacecraft is built to take humans farther than they’ve ever gone before. On Artemis missions, Orion will serve as the exploration vehicle that will carry the crew to space, provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during the space travel, and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. Orion will launch on NASA’s new heavy-lift rocket, the Space Launch System.
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Commercial Cargo Spacecraft
These spacecraft are carrying cargo and scientific investigations to and from the space station.
Commercial resupply missions are changing the way NASA does business, helping to build a strong American commercial space industry and freeing the agency to focus on developing the next-generation rocket and spacecraft that will allow us to travel farther in space than ever before.
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Commercial Crew Spacecraft
These spacecraft are carrying astronauts to and from the space station.
For more than 22 years, humans have lived and worked on humanity’s home in low Earth orbit. NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is delivering human transportation to and from the International Space Station from the United States through a partnership with American private industry.
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International Partner Rockets and Spacecraft
Exploring low Earth orbit, together.
Partner space agencies provide and operate elements of the International Space Station. The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada.
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Ride to the moon?
Human Landing Systems
Bringing astronauts from orbit around the Moon onto lunar soil
NASA’s commercial providers, Blue Origin and SpaceX, are building the human landing systems that will carry Artemis astronauts to the lunar surface and back to lunar orbit for their ride home to Earth aboard Orion.
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Gateway Deep Space Logistics
As astronauts conduct missions at Gateway and prepare for lunar surface missions, they will need deliveries of critical pressurized and unpressurized cargo, science experiments, and supplies like sample collection materials. In March 2020, NASA announced SpaceX as the first U.S. commercial provider under the Gateway Logistics Services contract to deliver cargo and other supplies to Gateway.
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