Rockets From Now and Then: Space Exploration At Its Best

As years go by, civilization advances faster and faster, with new discoveries in the field of science and technological improvement. Nothing sounds more like the future than space exploration, and in this year the major improvement is the new reusable rockets.

nasa-rockets-space — Cape Canaveral public main entrance. Image Credit: Pics About Space

Here we have a recollection of the new engines that manufacturers are currently working on, and a little extra about the history of space travels. All you need to know about the best orbital vehicles, current and past:

Space X – Falcon 9

The Falcon 9 Full Thrust is the third version of this orbital launch vehicle. Developed by SpaceX, it has a height of 230 ft. and a diameter of 12 ft. It has flown over seven missions, all of them proven to be successful. Its predecessor, the Falcon 9 v1.1, which flew for the last time in January of 2016.

Blue Origin – New Shepard

Developed by Blue Origin, the New Shepard, named after NASA astronaut Alan Shepard, is a reusable rocket intended as a commercial system for suborbital space tourism. Blue Origin is a company owned by Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO. In 2015, the vehicle was launched, powered by a BE-3 engine also developed by Blue Origin.

The company is already testing a new engine called BE-4. This booster stage rocket engine is expected to be ready for flight in 2017. Although it is still not finished, it is already being tested, and it is designed to produce 2,400 kilonewtons of thrust. It is expected to replace the Russian-made RD-180 engine currently used by the United Launch Alliance Vulcan.

Orbital ATK – QM-2

Even though this is not a rocket but an engine, this NASA’s five-segment rocket motor has drawn some attention to it, since the release of an HD video, where the world could see the whole splendor of its power. Manufactured by Orbital ATK, it is expected that this engine will carry the Space Launch System’s heavy-lift, which will allow a deeper exploration of the solar system.

Now let’s take a minute to commemorate the most famous space crafts in history.

Saturn V

Being the last production of the Saturn family, this expendable rocket was manufactured by three companies: Boeing, North America Aviation, and Douglas Company. In a span of 4 years, it carried 24 astronauts to the moon and to this date, it’s still the only launch vehicle able to lift a spacecraft large enough to carry humans beyond low Earth orbit.

Space Shuttle Discovery

The Discovery is the orbital vehicle that everyone knows for breaking a world record of most spaceflights, having launched and landed 39 times in 27 years of service. Its first flight was on August 30, 1984, and since then, it has carried on some of the most important missions for NASA, being the most famous the Hubble Space Telescope mission.