Jonathan's Space Pages

List of spaceflight programs and projects


In this context, a program is an overall related activity of an organization composed of one or more individual projects. For example, Project Mercury and the Space Shuttle were different projects but clearly part of the same overall NASA human spaceflight program, while the X-15, although also having NASA involvement, was a quite separate activity.


In the mission files, ISS visiting vehicle launches are treated under individual programs (RU, NASA, SPX etc) but ISS expedition phases aboard the station are labelled as part of the umbrella international program.


Human spaceflight programs - summary

ProgramDescriptionMission Dates
X15NASA/USAF/USN X-15 research program1959-1968
RUSoviet/Russian human spaceflight program under Roskosmos and its predecessors 1960-
NASAUS government civil human spaceflight program under NASA JSC (and earlier NASA STG) 1959-
CNChinese People's Liberation Army human spaceflight program 1999-
SS1Scaled Composites suborbital test program (Spaceship One)2003-2004
VGVirgin Galactic suborbital space tourism program2010-
BOBlue Origin suborbital space tourism program2015-
SPX SpaceX human spaceflight program 2019-
ISSInternational Space Station program (NASA/Roskosmos/ESA/JAXA/CSA)1998-


Other programs (e.g. the USAF/NRO MOL program) existed but never got as far as carrying out a human spaceflight.



Human spaceflight projects - summary

ProgramProjectDescriptionMission Dates
X15 X-15X-15 rocket plane flights 1959-1968
RUVostokVostok (3KA) and Voskhod (3KV/3KD) missions 1960-1965
RUSoyuz Soyuz missions 1966-
RUSoyuz/MirCorpSoyuz TM-30 mission (privately financed)2000
RUDOSDOS (civilian Salyut) missions1971-2001
RUAlmazOPS Almaz (military Salyut) missions1972-1977
NASAMercuryProject Mercury 1959-1963
NASAGemini Project Gemini1964-1966
NASAApollo Project Apollo1964-1975
NASASkylabSkylab space station1973-1974
NASASTSSpace Transportation System (Space Shuttle)1981-2011
ISSISSInternational Space Station project1998-
CNSZShenzhou missions1999-
CNTGTiangong stations2011-
SCLSS1Spaceship One missions 2003-2004
VGVGSpaceship Two flights 2010-
BONSNew Shepard flights 2015-
SPXDragon Crew Dragon flights 2019-