Featured Missions
Upcoming mission milestones showcase the breadth and depth of NASA science.
NISAR
Launching in September 2024, NISAR will systematically map Earth and study changes to ice sheets, glaciers, and sea ice in fine detail, as climate change warms the air and ocean.
Europa Clipper
Europa Clipper is launching Oct. 10, 2024 with the main science goal of determining whether there are places below the surface of Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa, that could support life.
Lucy
Launched in October 2021, Lucy will explore a record-breaking number of asteroids, flying by three asteroids in the solar system’s main asteroid belt, and by eight Trojan asteroids that share an orbit around the Sun with Jupiter.
From GOES to GeoXO: Past Highlights to Future Horizons
When NOAA’s GOES-U satellite is launched it will be the final satellite in a heralded NOAA satellite program and bridge to another future age of advanced satellite technology. For nearly 50 years, NOAA and NASA have partnered to develop and advance NOAA’s geostationary satellites as part of the most sophisticated weather-observing, environmental monitoring, and space weather monitoring satellite system in the world.
Learn More about the GOES MissionNASA Science Fleet Chart
NASA Science missions circle the Earth, the Sun, the Moon, Mars, and many other destinations within our Solar System, including spacecraft that look out even further into our universe. The Science Fleet depicts the scope of NASA’s activity and how our missions have permeated throughout the solar system.
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ACE
NASA’s Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) collects and analyzes particles of solar, interplanetary, interstellar and galactic origins. The data contributes to our understanding of the Sun, its interaction with Earth, and…
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All Science Missions
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ST5
ST5 was a mission born of the New Millennium Program, which was established to identify, develop, build, and test innovative…
ST6
Since the dawn of the space age, unmanned spacecraft have flown blind, with little or no ability to make decisions…
Stardust / Stardust NExT
Stardust was the first spacecraft to return samples from a comet to Earth.
Surveyor 1
What was Surveyor 1? NASA’s Surveyor 1 completed the first true soft-landing on the Moon. The mission was considered a…
Surveyor 2
A thruster malfunction caused this U.S. lunar lander to crash near Copernicus crater on the Moon.
Surveyor 3
What was Surveyor 3? NASA’s Surveyor 3 was the second in the Surveyor series to make a soft landing on…
Surveyor 4
What was Surveyor 4? NASA’s Surveyor 4 was the fourth in a series of spacecraft designed to make a soft…
Surveyor 5
What was Surveyor 5? NASA’s Surveyor 5 lander was the first spacecraft to do a soil analysis on the Moon,…
Surveyor 6
Surveyor 6 sent back 29,952 images of the Moon's surface from the Sinus Medii region.
Surveyor 7
This final uncrewed Surveyor Moon lander mission was dedicated purely to lunar science.
Surveyor Model 1
This second U.S. practice run at a Moon landing went off without a hitch.
Surveyor Model 2
A thrust imbalance prevented this early spaceflight test from achieving its simulated Moon mission.
Surveyor Model SD-1
A premature engine shutdown caused this U.S. practice Moon mission fall back to the launch pad and explode.
TIROS
The Television Infrared Observation Satellite Program (TIROS) The TIROS Program (Television Infrared Observation Satellite) was NASA’s first experimental step to…
TOMS-EP
The Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer, launched in July 1996 onboard an Earth Probe Satellite (TOMS/EP), continues NASA’s long-term daily mapping…
TRACE
TRACE was a satellite mission designed to deepen understanding of our dynamic sun’s activity, by exploring the connections between fine-scale…
Ulysses
Solar Polar Orbiter
Venus Express
What was Venus Express? Venus Express was the first European spacecraft to orbit Venus. The original mission was expected to…
Viking 1
Viking 1 made the first truly successful landing on Mars. The Soviet Mars 3 lander claimed a technical first, but…
Viking 2
Mars Lander & Orbiter
Yohkoh
Orbit: Low-Earth Orbit Yohkoh (“Sunbeam”) was a Japanese solar mission with USA and UK collaborators. It was launched into Earth…