World Space Agencies
INTRODUCTORY TERMS
v What isAstronomy?
• Astronomy is the scientific study of celestial objects (stars, planets etc.).
v What is SpaceAgency?
• Space agency is a government agency engaged in activities related to outer
space and space exploration.
v What is Space?
• In astronomy, space is the vast 3-dimensional region that begins where the
earth's atmosphere ends.
v Spacecraft: A vehicle that travels in space.
v Astronaut: A person who travels in a spacecraft.
v An astronaut of the Soviet or Russian space program is called Cosmonaut.
Important Dates & Days
• World Space Week : 4 to 10 October
• International Day of Human Space Flight : 12 April
• 12 April 1961 was the date of the first human space flight, carried out by
Yuri Gagarin, a Soviet citizen.
• India celebrates National Space Day on the first Friday in May.
America
Asia
Europe
Others
Indian Space Research Organisation
• Established in :- 15th August, 1969
• Founder :- Vikram Sarabhai
• Headquarters :- Bengaluru, Karnataka
• Chairman :- Shri S. Somanath
• Vikram Sarabhai is internationally regarded as
the Father of the Indian Space Program.
International Space Station
• It is a modular space station (habitable artificial satellite) in low Earth orbit
(LEO).
• It involves five participating space agencies:
1. NASA (United States),
2. Roscosmos (Russia),
3. JAXA (Japan),
4. ESA (Europe), and
5. CSA (Canada)
Purpose
• It serves as a microgravity and space
environment research laboratory.
• Here scientific research is conducted in astrobiology,
astronomy, meteorology, physics and other fields.
• It is suited for testing the spacecraft systems and
equipment required for possible future long-
duration missions to the Moon and Mars.
Ø The International Space Station (ISS) is a multi-nation construction project
that is the largest single structure humans ever put into space.
Ø The first module of the ISS, Zarya, was launched on 20 November 1998 (on
an Russian rocket).
Ø Its main construction was completed between 1998 and 2011.
Ø The first long-term residents arrived at ISS on 2 November, 2000.
Ø 251 individuals from 19 countries have visited the International Space
Station (December, 2021), mostly from United States (155 people).
Ø According to NASA’s budget estimates, the ISS’s re-entry into the Earth’s
atmosphere will take place in January, 2031.
Ø Mission control will first lower its altitude and the spacecraft will begin to
descent into the “South Pacific Oceanic Uninhabited Area” (SPOUA) in an
area known as Point Nemo.
National Aeronautics and SpaceAdministration
• Establishment :- 1958
• Founder :- Dwight D. Eisenhower
• Headquarters :- Washington, D.C., United States
• Administrator :- Bill Nelson
European SpaceAgency
• It is an intergovernmental organisation of 22 member states dedicated to
the exploration of space.
• Established in 1975
• Headquarter: Paris, France
• Administrator:- Josef Aschbacher
• Members: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic,
Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway,
Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United
Kingdom.
Canadian SpaceAgency
• Headquarters: - John H. Chapman Space Centre, Quebec
• President :- Lisa Campbell
Roscosmos
Headquarters :- Moscow, Russia
Administrator :- Dmitry Rogozin
Japan Aerospace ExplorationAgency
Headquarters :- Tokyo, Japan
Administrator :- Hiroshi Yamakawa
