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Rick Husband
Rick Husband, born Richard Douglas Husband, was an American astronaut and Air Force colonel who commanded Space Shuttle Columbia on the STS-107 science mission, dying in its 2003 breakup.
RIMFAX
RIMFAX (Radar Imager for Mars' Subsurface Experiment) is a ground-penetrating radar on NASA's Perseverance rover, developed in Norway, that images rock layers beneath Jezero crater to depths over 30 meters.
RISAT
RISAT (Radar Imaging Satellite) is a series of Indian Earth observation satellites built by ISRO, beginning with RISAT-2 in 2009, whose radar payloads image the surface at night and through clouds.
RL10
The RL10 is an American liquid-hydrogen and liquid-oxygen upper-stage rocket engine developed by Pratt & Whitney, first flown in 1963 and still in production today.
RM-81 Agena
The RM-81 Agena, also known as the Lockheed Agena, was an American upper-stage rocket and satellite bus built by Lockheed, flown with Thor, Atlas, and Titan boosters from 1959 to 1987.
Robert Bigelow
Robert Thomas Bigelow (born 1944 in Las Vegas, Nevada) is an American hotel and real estate entrepreneur who founded Budget Suites of America and Bigelow Aerospace.
Robert H. Goddard
Robert H. Goddard, also known as Robert Hutchings Goddard, was an American physicist who flew the world's first liquid-propellant rocket in 1926 and is called the father of modern rocketry.
Robert L. Sackheim
Robert L. Sackheim was an American space propulsion engineer who spent 35 years at TRW before serving as chief engineer for space propulsion at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.
Robert P. Caren
Robert P. Caren (1932–2017) was an American research scientist who rose at Lockheed from thermophysics researcher to Corporate Vice President of Science and Engineering, pioneering solid cryogenic cooling for space payloads.
Robert W. Rummel
Robert W. Rummel (1915–2009) was an American aeronautical engineer who spent 35 years at Trans World Airlines, advised Howard Hughes, and served on the 1986 Challenger commission.
Rocker-bogie
The rocker-bogie is a springless, passive six-wheel suspension for planetary rovers, patented by Donald Bickler at NASA in 1989 and flown first on Mars Pathfinder's Sojourner in 1997.
Rocket
A rocket is a vehicle or engine that produces thrust by ejecting propellant at high velocity, spanning fireworks, missiles, sounding rockets, and orbital launch vehicles.
Rocket candy
Rocket candy is a solid rocket propellant made from potassium nitrate and a sugar or sugar alcohol, the standard low-cost propellant of amateur and academic rocket motors.
Rocket engine
A rocket engine is a propulsion device that generates thrust by burning fuel and an oxidizer carried on board, expelling hot exhaust through a nozzle to push the vehicle forward.
Rocket Lab
Rocket Lab is an end-to-end space company founded in New Zealand in 2006 by Peter Beck, headquartered in Long Beach, California, and best known for its Electron small-lift rocket.
Rocket Lab Electron
The Rocket Lab Electron, also known as the Electron rocket, is a small two-stage orbital launch vehicle built by Rocket Lab, first flown in 2017 from New Zealand's Mahia Peninsula.
Rocket Lab HASTE
Rocket Lab HASTE is a suborbital testbed rocket derived from Electron, flying hypersonic technology tests for the US government since its June 2023 debut from Wallops Island, Virginia.
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 is the world's first private orbital launch site, on New Zealand's Māhia Peninsula, opened in 2016 as the dedicated pad for the Electron rocket.
Rocket propellant
Rocket propellant, also called rocket fuel, is the fuel and oxidizer a rocket carries onboard and burns to produce thrust, in liquid, solid, or hybrid form.
Rocketdyne
Rocketdyne is an American rocket engine manufacturer founded in 1955, known for the engines that powered the Redstone missile, Saturn rockets, the Space Shuttle, and NASA's Space Launch System.
Rocketdyne F-1
The Rocketdyne F-1 was a kerosene and liquid oxygen rocket engine, developed by Rocketdyne to power the first stage of the Saturn V Moon rocket.
Rocketdyne J-2
The Rocketdyne J-2, also known as the J-2 engine, was an American rocket engine burning liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen that powered the upper stages of the Saturn IB and Saturn V during Apollo.
Rocketsonde
A rocketsonde is an expendable meteorological instrument released from a small rocket near apogee, measuring wind, temperature, pressure, and moisture during descent through the upper atmosphere.
Rodong
Rodong, also written Nodong or Rodong 1, is a North Korean road-mobile medium-range ballistic missile first flight-tested in 1993, the design basis for Iran's Shahab-3 and Pakistan's Ghauri.
Roger B. Chaffee
Roger B. Chaffee (Roger Bruce Chaffee) was an American naval officer, engineer, and NASA astronaut who died in the Apollo 1 launch pad fire in 1967.
Roger Boisjoly
Roger Boisjoly (1938–2012) was an American mechanical engineer at Morton Thiokol who warned of the O-ring failure behind the 1986 Challenger disaster and testified to the Rogers Commission.
Roger M. Myers
Roger M. Myers is an American aerospace engineer who led in-space propulsion at Aerojet Rocketdyne and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2022.
Rogers Commission
The Rogers Commission, formally the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident, was appointed by Reagan in 1986, chaired by William Rogers with Neil Armstrong as vice chairman.
Rogers Commission Report
The Rogers Commission Report, chaired by William P. Rogers, was the 1986 report to President Reagan that identified the O-ring failure causing the Challenger accident and made nine recommendations.
Rohini (rocket family)
The Rohini sounding rockets, including models RH-75 through RH-560, are one- and two-stage solid-propellant research rockets developed by India's ISRO to study the upper atmosphere.