1,868 articles
White Cloud (satellite)
White Cloud was the unclassified designation of the US Navy's first operational ocean surveillance satellites, which trios flying in formation used to track ships at sea from 1976.
White fuming nitric acid
White fuming nitric acid (WFNA) is a nearly anhydrous, water-white form of nitric acid used as a storable liquid rocket oxidizer, notably in the Rascal missile.
White Sands Missile Range
White Sands Missile Range, originally the White Sands Proving Ground, is a US Army rocket and weapons testing range in southern New Mexico, activated in 1945.
White Sands Test Facility
White Sands Test Facility (WSTF) is a NASA rocket propulsion and hazardous-testing facility near Las Cruces, New Mexico, established in 1963 to test Apollo spacecraft propulsion systems.
William Anders
William Anders (William Alison Anders) was an American astronaut and Air Force major general. He flew on Apollo 8 and became the first Chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
William C. McCool
William C. McCool, known as Willie McCool, was an American naval aviator and NASA astronaut who piloted Space Shuttle Columbia on the fatal STS-107 mission in 2003.
Women in space
Women in space covers women as spaceflight crew, beginning with cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova in 1963 and Sally Ride in 1983; 78 women had flown by March 2023.
Woomera (rocket range)
Woomera, also known as the Woomera Test Range, is a rocket, missile, and weapons testing range in outback South Australia, established in 1947 and operated by the Royal Australian Air Force.
World Space Week
World Space Week is an annual UN observance held every 4 to 10 October, proclaimed in 1999 and described as the world's largest annual space event.
X Band Satellite Communication
X band satellite communication uses the 7.25–8.4 GHz microwave spectrum for satellite-to-ground links, serving as the military workhorse band with rain resilience for high-throughput imagery and video.
X-15
The North American X-15 was a rocket-powered hypersonic research aircraft flown from 1959 to 1968, setting a piloted speed record of Mach 6.7 (4,520 mph).
Xichang Satellite Launch Center
The Xichang Satellite Launch Center (XSLC) is a Chinese launch complex in a mountain valley in Sichuan Province, opened in 1984 for geostationary satellites and lunar probes.
Xichang Satellite Launch Center (西昌卫星发射中心)
Xichang Satellite Launch Center, established in 1970 near Xichang, Sichuan, is China's busiest launch site, hosting geostationary satellite launches, the Chang'e lunar probes, and BeiDou navigation satellites.
Xingwang C
Xingwang C is a satellite bus built by the China Academy of Space Technology for the operational satellites of China's Xingwang (Guowang) low-Earth-orbit broadband constellation.
XLR81
The XLR81 is a gas-generator liquid rocket engine built by Bell Aerosystems that served as the main engine of the Lockheed Agena upper stage from 1959.
XM Satellite Radio
XM Satellite Radio was an American subscription satellite radio service delivering over 100 digital channels; it launched in 2001 and merged with Sirius in 2008.
XRISM
XRISM (X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission) is a JAXA-led X-ray observatory, developed with NASA and ESA and launched on 7 September 2023 to study energetic cosmic objects.
Yantar (satellite)
Yantar, Russian for "amber," was a series of Soviet and later Russian photo-reconnaissance satellites that returned exposed film to Earth in reentry capsules, flown almost 180 times between 1974 and 2015.
Yaogan
Yaogan, meaning "remote sensing," is a series of Chinese satellites first launched in 2006 for the People's Liberation Army, officially described as civilian remote sensing spacecraft.
Yenisei (rocket)
Yenisei (Енисей) is a Russian super-heavy launch vehicle developed by RKK Energia for Roscosmos, designed to lift over 100 tonnes to low Earth orbit for crewed lunar missions.
Yunyao
Yunyao (云遥) is a Chinese commercial meteorological satellite constellation operated by Tianjin Yunyao Aerospace Technology, whose 12 Yunyao-1 satellites entered operational use by the China Meteorological Administration in December 2024.
Yuri Gagarin (Юрий Алексеевич Гагарин)
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin (1934–1968) was a Soviet Air Forces pilot and cosmonaut who became the first human in space, completing one orbit of Earth aboard Vostok 1 on 12 April 1961.
Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center
The Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center at Star City near Moscow, founded by the Soviet Air Force in 1960, trains Russian and international astronauts for spaceflight.
Yutu (rover)
Yutu was the six-wheeled rover of China's Chang'e 3 mission, which landed it in Mare Imbrium in December 2013, the first lunar rover since 1973.
Yutu-2
Yutu-2 (玉兔二号) is a Chinese six-wheeled lunar rover, part of the Chang'e-4 mission that made the first soft landing on the Moon's far side in January 2019.
Zarya (Заря) (ISS module)
Zarya (Заря), also known as the Functional Cargo Block or FGB, is the first module of the International Space Station, launched in 1998 to provide initial propulsion and power.
Zelenchukskaya RT-32
The Zelenchukskaya RT-32 is a fully steerable 32-meter radio telescope at the Zelenchukskaya observatory in southern Russia, part of the Quasar-KVO VLBI network since 2001.
Zenit (rocket family)
Zenit (Зенит) was a Soviet and Ukrainian family of liquid-fueled launch vehicles developed by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau, first flown in 1985 and retired in 2017.
Zenit (Зеніт) (rocket family)
Zenit (Зеніт) is a family of liquid-fueled launch vehicles developed by the Yuzhnoe Design Bureau in Dnipro, Ukraine, first flown in 1985 as part of the Soviet Energia program.
Zenit-3SL
Zenit-3SL, also known as the Zenit-3SL rocket, was a three-stage launch vehicle that Sea Launch flew from an ocean platform on the equator from 1999 to 2014.