Talk:History of spaceflight/Archive 1

Why an own article
I made an own article of this, because subject deserves a proper article, distinguished from Aviation history (to which it was redirected before), longer than the small section in Spaceflight, but yet shorter, more abbreviated and readable for a mortal human than all of the Timeline of spaceflight. Man on the Mars (talk) 05:04, 26 September 2008 (UTC)

For now, it's a copy of the small section in Spaceflight, but I'm sure we can expand it with notable details. I don't think we should fill it with too many small details (that's what the Timeline of spaceflight is for), but rather try to describe the general development. Man on the Mars (talk) 05:07, 26 September 2008 (UTC)

Removal of Unreliable Source
I have removed information from this article drawn from or sourced from the paper "The First Attempts of Flight, Automatic Machines, Submarines and Rocket Technology in Turkish History" by Arslan Terzioglu. This source is unreliable, as discussed on Reliable_sources/Noticeboard. Dialectric (talk) 15:30, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Mention the Space Race, and move some info from there
We have a bit of a problem in the article Space Race, which is meant to cover the competition between the US and USSR which began the history of spaceflight: some fans of the other national programs want to expand the term out of scope to include all programs to the present time. This is a minority viewpoint and the material is added by anonymous users who haven't used the discussion page, so there is no provable consensus. That information clutters the (already large) article, and those few of us who care believe it properly belongs here (see Talk:Space Race).

Also, the Space Race should be mentioned and have a main article link in here. JustinTime55 (talk) 19:46, 11 May 2010 (UTC)

Reworking the 'Programs' section
Right now, that section is a mix of programs and space agencies, which, while not a mess, could be much better structured. There is already a List of space agencies, so I think the agencies themselves can be removed. I'd like input on all the programs in spaceflight history. Now the previous section goes as far as the moon landing, so maybe we should focus on post space-race era. Below is a list of programs I'd include. I wouldn't put in anything that has been cancelled or is not history, though current programs should be there. Feedback appreciated. -- WingtipvorteX  PTT   ∅  21:51, 27 July 2012 (UTC)
 * 1) Apollo-Soyuz Test Project
 * 2) Space Shuttle
 * 3) Soyuz/Mir
 * 4) Shuttle–Mir Program
 * 5) ISS
 * 6) Shenzhou program
 * 7) Commercial Resupply Services


 * I think its a good idea to have a section that focussed on programs rather than agencies, although I can't quite see your selection criteria (as in genuine question!). By volumes of launches and signficance of payloads, I think that the Ariane (206 launches) and Delta (300+ launches) programs are also very significant in the history of spaceflight and should be included. This would also give us a great excuse to talk about scientific payloads such as COBE that literally changed our conception of the universe. Similarly, although it had many fewer launches, the Titan III system was responsible for launching Voyager and Viking which surely deserve a bigger place. An alternative would be to put all of the interplanetary probes together as one 'program', although that does some injustice to the term 'program'. Any thoughts? Thom2002 (talk) 00:32, 31 July 2012 (UTC)


 * You are correct that there are many things I didn't list. In all honesty, I just put in the things I could think of right then, not that i put much thought into it. No question of the inclusion of Ariane and Delta. Maybe one for deep space probes? Or maybe just manned programs? (Though that doesn't seem to be the scope of the article) Whatever it is, lets make sure it is chronological. Add all the ones you think should be included to the list (in order :) ) and we'll discuss them. -- WingtipvorteX  PTT   ∅  17:33, 31 July 2012 (UTC)
 * Cool cool, I interpret the scope of the article to be the history of spaceflight, with spaceflight as defined at the article spaceflight being manned and unmanned. So my list of significant post-space race programmes, in roughly chrono order would include the following. Its tough, as an exhaustive list would be too long so its a little bit subjective as to which were the really major programs. I've tried to keep an international flavour:


 * 1) Delta (rocket family)
 * 2) Europa rocket and Ariane (rocket family)
 * 3) Venera
 * 4) Pioneer program and Voyager program (best taken together?)
 * 5) Apollo-Soyuz Test Project
 * 6) Viking program
 * 7) Space Shuttle
 * 8) Soyuz/Mir
 * 9) Hubble Space Telescope and Cosmic Background Explorer
 * 10) Galileo (spacecraft) and Cassini-Huygens
 * 11) Shuttle–Mir Program
 * 12) ISS
 * 13) Shenzhou program
 * 14) Automated Transfer Vehicle
 * 15) Commercial Resupply Services

Comments welcome. Thom2002 (talk) 19:04, 6 August 2012 (UTC)
 * The list is quite extensive. I was about to suggest a section called 'deep space probes' or something along those lines and put all those there. But then, that would call for the combining of a lot of others too. So I don't know. The scope being history of spaceflight, maybe we should list every program??? That would be quite extensive, but would be complete. -- WingtipvorteX  PTT   ∅  16:52, 7 August 2012 (UTC)
 * Yes, it's pretty difficult to organise such a lot of material. One answer might be to have a separate 'list of space programs' article that would take some of the pressure off this article to be 100% complete of every minor program. For this article, without wanting a massive (and rather tedious) list, we have some options: 1) Group by themes (launcher programmes, manned programmes, deep space probes etc) 2) Group by time periods (1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s)  3) Group by Space Agency (although I don't favour this last one as so many programs are now international). Any thoughts on these options? Thom2002 (talk) 17:50, 7 August 2012 (UTC)
 * Well, since it is the history of spaceflight, by dates would be appropriate, though by themes would not inappropriate. I would favor time periods, I think in decades. That will make each section a bit longer and the article more concise. Programs would have to be listed by the dates they began, but also include the dates when they ended. I'm not opposed to a list, but that may be something for the future. -- WingtipvorteX  PTT   ∅  18:10, 7 August 2012 (UTC)

Changes
We're adding some NASA programs to the program section and adding some additional information to the China section in Programs.Bh7pb (talk) 16:12, 6 April 2018 (UTC)

X-15
The article may be well-served by adding a fairly short section detailing the X-15 flights, possibly with language and ideas ported from the main article distinguishing between the American and FAI space standards, Armstrong's participation, "spaceplanes" generally, etc. I make the comment here both as a personal note for a possible future project, or else to other users to see about same. MinnesotanUser (talk) 04:50, 30 September 2018 (UTC)

Privatized spaceflight
With companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin gearing up for significant missions, would this page benefit from a section/subsection on privatized spaceflight?Zhbgy5 (talk) 17:47, 16 February 2018 (UTC)