spaceflight

Also known as space flight, space transport, space traffic, space travel, space commerce

thumb|upright=1.5|Tracy Caldwell Dyson in the [[International Space Station's Cupola]]

AI overview

Spaceflight is the act of traveling beyond Earth's atmosphere into space, as shown by astronauts like Tracy Caldwell Dyson working aboard facilities such as the International Space Station. It matters because it enables scientific research, exploration, and technological advancement that would be impossible to conduct on Earth.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Research

26,803 papers

Effects of spaceflight on the brain.ReviewThe Lancet. Neurology · 2024Seidler RD, Mao XW, Tays GD et al.DOI: 10.1016/S1474-4422(24)00224-2
Leveraging Spaceflight to Advance Cardiovascular Research on Earth.ReviewCirculation research · 2022Scott JM, Stoudemire J, Dolan L et al.DOI: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.121.319843
Impact of Spaceflight on Upper Extremity Orthopedic Health.ReviewAerospace medicine and human performance · 2024Fiedler B, Jami M, Rakauskas T et al.DOI: 10.3357/AMHP.6482.2024
Spaceflight-Induced Intracranial Hypertension.ReviewAerospace medicine and human performance · 2015Michael AP, Marshall-Bowman KDOI: 10.3357/AMHP.4284.2015
Effects of Spaceflight on Human Skin.ReviewSkin pharmacology and physiology · 2021Farkas Á, Farkas GDOI: 10.1159/000515963
Effect of Spaceflight and Microgravity on the Musculoskeletal System: A Review.ReviewThe Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons · 2024Lee Satcher R, Fiedler B, Ghali A et al.DOI: 10.5435/JAAOS-D-23-00954
Private Spaceflight: A New Landscape for Dealing with Medical Risk.ReviewLife sciences in space research · 2022Griko YV, Loftus DJ, Stolc V et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.lssr.2022.03.001
Surgical Capabilities in Spaceflight.ReviewThe Surgical clinics of North America · 2025Canepa CA, Stabenau KADOI: 10.1016/j.suc.2025.07.007

via PubMed

~37 min read

Encyclopedic overview

45 sections

Contents

Terminology
History
Phases
Launch
Reaching space
Alternatives
Leaving orbit
Astrodynamics
Transfer energy
Reaching space station
Reentry
Landing and recovery
Types
Uncrewed
Human
Sub-orbital
Point-to-point
Orbital
Interplanetary
Interstellar
Intergalactic
Spacecraft
Propulsion
Launch systems
Expendable
Reusable
Challenges
Safety
Weightlessness
Radiation
Life support
Space weather
Environmental considerations
Regulation
Access
Applications
Spacefaring
Global coordination
Crewed spacefaring nations
Uncrewed spacefaring nations
Suborbital
See also
References
Further reading
External links

thumb|upright=1.5|Tracy Caldwell Dyson in the [[International Space Station's Cupola]]

Spaceflight (also space flight) is an application of astronautics to fly objects, usually spacecraft, into or through outer space, either with or without humans on board. Most spaceflight is uncrewed and conducted mainly with spacecraft such as satellites in orbit around Earth, but also includes space probes for flights beyond Earth orbit. Such spaceflights operate either by telerobotic or autonomous control. The first spaceflights began in the 1950s with the launches of the Soviet Sputnik satellites and American Explorer and Vanguard missions. Human spaceflight programs include the Soyuz, Shenzhou, the past Apollo Moon landing and the Space Shuttle programs. Other current spaceflight are conducted to the International Space Station and to China's Tiangong Space Station.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “spaceflight” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.