Encylopedia Astronautica

Spaceflight buffs, check this out! Encylopedia Astronautica features “the only complete single reference source for all launches to orbit; all spacecraft orbited; all astronauts and cosmonauts that flew in space or entered training; all launch vehicles used for orbital flights; and data on many projects, spacecraft and launch vehicle designs that were proposed or cancelled before development was complete.”

The Year in Space - 2005

Last year we said “…the darkest hour is always before the dawn…” and so it came to pass. 2005 may have marked a turning point in the exploration and exploitation of space.

Launches to orbit reversed the downward trend for the first time in 15 years. Russia could (and did) claim the largest number of launches to orbit in 2005, but this dominance was abetted by the collapse of the American launch rate (and diminished by the fact that all three launch vehicle failures of the year were Russian). The only first-generation American launch vehicle still flying by the end of the year was the Delta 7000 series. The classic Atlas and Titan launch vehicle lineages both flew for the last time in 2005. With the Shuttle essentially grounded, America was dependent on the EELV Delta IV Medium, Delta IV Heavy and Atlas V vehicles, which have proved costly and commercially unpopular. The Ukraine continued to cash in with launches of its Zenit-3SL medium-lift booster as well as converted surplus ICBMs. Europe, which had earlier retired the economical Ariane in favour of the more costly Ariane 5 saw its launch rate blip up, with the infant mortality problems of the Ariane 5 design seemingly behind it.

[tags]spaceflight,astronaut,rocket science,year in space,encylopedia astronautica[/tags]