Jump to content

Comparison of crewed space vehicles

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 151.67.13.165 (talk) at 12:30, 3 October 2016 (Orbital space vehicles). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

A number of different spacecraft have been used to carry people to and from space.

Orbital space vehicles

Legend for below table:   [under development] — [retired,canceled] — [operational,inactive]

Spacecraft Origin Manufacturer Range Launch
system
Crew
size
Length (m) Diameter (m) Launch mass (kg) Power
system
Generated
power (W)
First
flight*
Last
flight
Flights*
Apollo  USA North American Aviation
Grumman and Douglas
Lunar Saturn IB
Saturn V
3 3.91 5,500 CM + 14,700 LM
24,500 Service Module
Fuel cells 1967 (1966) 1975 15 (4)[note 1]
Gemini  USA McDonnell Aircraft
Martin
LEO Titan II GLV
Titan IIIC[note 2]
2 5.56 3.05 Fuel cells 1965 (1964) 1966 10 (2)[note 1]
Mercury  USA McDonnell Aircraft
North American Aviation
LEO
attained
Redstone MRLV
Atlas LV-3B
1 3.34 1.89 Batteries 1961 (1960) 1963 6 (12)[note 3]
Shenzhou  China LEO Chang Zheng 2F 3 9.25 2.80 7,840 Solar panels 1,450 2003 (1999) Active 5 (5)
Voskhod  Soviet Union OKB-1 LEO Voskhod 3[note 4] 5 2.4 Batteries n/a 1964 (1964) 1965 2 (3)
Vostok  Soviet Union OKB-1 LEO
first
Vostok-K 1 4.4 2.43 4,725 Batteries n/a 1961 (1960) 1963 6 (7)[note 5]
Soyuz 7K-OK  Soviet Union OKB-1 LEO Soyuz 3 7.48 2.72 Solar panels 1967 (1966) 1970 8 (8)[note 6]
Soyuz 7KT-OK  Soviet Union OKB-1 LEO Soyuz 3 7.48 2.72 Solar panels 1971 1971 2[note 7]
Soyuz 7K-T  Soviet Union OKB-1 LEO Soyuz
Soyuz-U
2 7.48 2.72 Batteries 1973 1981 26 (4)[note 8]
Soyuz 7K-T-AF  Soviet Union OKB-1 LEO Soyuz 2 7.48 2.72 Solar panels 1973 1973 1
Soyuz 7K-TM  Soviet Union OKB-1 LEO Soyuz-U 2 7.48 2.72 Solar panels 1974 1975 2 (2)
Soyuz 7K-MF6  Soviet Union OKB-1 LEO Soyuz-U 2 7.48 2.72 Solar panels 1976 1976 1
Soyuz-T  Soviet Union OKB-1 LEO Soyuz-U
Soyuz-U2
3 7.48 2.72 Solar panels 1978 1986 15 (6)[note 9]
Soyuz-TM  Soviet Union
 Russia
RKK Energia LEO Soyuz-U2
Soyuz-U
3 7.48 2.72 Solar panels 1986 2002 33 (1)
Buran  Soviet Union RKK Energia LEO Energia 10 36.37 Fuel cells 1988 1988 1
Soyuz-TMA
11F732
 Russia RKK Energia LEO Soyuz-FG 3 7.48 2.72 Solar panels 2002 2012 22
Soyuz TMA-M
11F747
 Russia RKK Energia LEO Soyuz-FG 3 7.48 2.72 7,150 Solar panels 1,000 2010 2016 19
Soyuz MS
?
 Russia RKK Energia LEO Soyuz-FG 3 7.48 2.72 Solar panels 2016 Active 1
Biconic Space Vehicle  USA Blue Origin LEO Orbital Reusable Booster System
CST-100  USA Boeing LEO multiple, initially Atlas V 7 [1] 5.03 m [2] 4.56 m [2] Planned: 2018 (2017)
Dream Chaser Space System  USA Sierra Nevada Corporation LEO multiple, initially Atlas V 7 [3][4] 9.0 m [5] 11,300 kg [6]
Federatsiya
?
 Russia RKK Energia LEO Solar panels 2021 or later
Space Shuttle orbiter  USA United Space Alliance LEO Space Shuttle 8[note 10] 109,000 Fuel cells 1981 2011 135[note 11]
Orion  USA Lockheed Martin
Astrium
Mars Delta IV Heavy
Space Launch System
4 5 8,900 Capsule
12,300 Service Module
Solar Panels Planned: 2021 (2014) 0 (1)[note 12]
Dragon V2  USA SpaceX Mars Falcon 9 full thrust 7[note 13] 3.7 Solar Panels Planned: 2017 (2016) 0
Interplanetary Spaceship  USA SpaceX Solar System[7][note 14] ITS Launch vehicle[7] 100[note 15] 49.5[7] 17[7] 2,400,000[7] Solar Panels 200,000 Planned: 2022 [7] 0
* - Format: Manned (Unmanned), includes failures

Suborbital space vehicles

Legend for below table:   [under development] — [retired,canceled] — [operational,inactive]

Spacecraft Origin Manufacturer Range Launch
system
Crew
size
Length (m) Diameter (m) Launch mass (kg) Power
system
Generated
power (W)
First
flight*
Last
flight
Flights*
SpaceShipOne  USA Scaled Composites 112 km
X Prize
White Knight
Hybrid Motor
3 3,600 2004 2004 3[note 16]
X-15  USA North American Aviation 108 km
altitude
B-52
Ammonia-LOX
1 15,420 1963 1963 2[note 17]
New Shepard  USA Blue Origin N/A (2015) 0 (2)[note 17]
SpaceShipTwo  USA The Spaceship Company 110 km
Kármán line+10
White Knight Two
RocketMotorTwo
8[note 18] 9,740 2016 ? 0[note 19]
* - Format: Manned (Unmanned), includes failures

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b Not including Boilerplate tests
  2. ^ One unmanned launch on Titan IIIC ahead of proposed use in MOL programme
  3. ^ Including 2 suborbital flights, not including Boilerplate tests
  4. ^ Able to carry three cosmonauts without spacesuits, or two with spacesuits; both combinations flown
  5. ^ Unmanned flight count includes two launch failures
  6. ^ Manned flights include one fatal in-flight failure; Soyuz 1 lost due to parachute failure upon landing.
  7. ^ Manned flights include one fatal in-flight failure; Soyuz 11 depressurised during reentry.
  8. ^ Manned flights include one launch failure - abort during third stage flight, recovered after suborbital flight
  9. ^ Manned flights include one launch failure (SAS (launch escape system) used ~70 seconds before planned liftoff due to fire on launch pad - crew survived)
  10. ^ No missions carried more than eight astronauts, although higher crew sizes were theoretically possible, for example recovering the crew of a stranded orbiter.
  11. ^ Includes two fatal accidents; STS-51-L disintegrated during ascent, STS-107 damaged during ascent, disintegrated during reentry.
  12. ^ Including unmanned test around 2014
  13. ^ Number of seats will probably be a multiple of the 3 crew member rotations for the ISS
  14. ^ Designed to land almost everywhere in the solar system
  15. ^ Number of seats will be lower on early missions
  16. ^ Does not include manned atmospheric flights
  17. ^ a b Does not include atmospheric flights, or missions considered spaceflights by the US definition but not the internationally-accepted definition
  18. ^ 2 crew + 6 passengers
  19. ^ Does not include manned atmospheric flights

See also

References

  1. ^ "Commercial Human Spaceflight Plan Unveiled". Aviation Week. July 20, 2010. Retrieved September 16, 2010.
  2. ^ a b Burghardt, Mike (August 2011). "Boeing CST-100: Commercial Crew Transportation System" (PDF). Boeing. Retrieved May 8, 2014.
  3. ^ "Dream Chaser Model Drops in at NASA Dryden" (Press release). Dryden Flight Research Center: NASA. 2010-12-17. Archived from the original on 2014-01-07. Retrieved 2012-08-29. {{cite press release}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ Chang, Kenneth (2011-02-01). "Businesses Take Flight, With Help From NASA". New York Times. p. D1. Archived from the original on 2014-01-06. Retrieved 2012-08-29. {{cite news}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ Wade, Mark (2014). "Dream Chaser". Encyclopedia Astronautix. Archived from the original on 2014-01-06. Retrieved 2012-08-29. {{cite web}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ Sirangelo, Mark (August 2011). "NewSpace 2011: Sierra Nevada Corporation". Spacevidcast. Retrieved 2011-08-16. Sirangelo, Mark (24 August 2014). "Flight Plans and Crews for Commercial Dream Chaser's First Flights: One-on-One Interview With SNC VP Mark Sirangelo (Part 3)". AmericaSpace.
  7. ^ a b c d e f "Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species" (PDF). SpaceX. 2016-09-28. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-09-28. Retrieved 2016-09-28.