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A sub-orbital spaceflight is a spaceflight in which the spacecraft reaches outer space, but its trajectory intersects the surface of the gravitating body from which it was launched. Hence, it will not complete one orbital revolution, will not become an artificial satellite nor will it reach escape velocity .
The orbital plane of a revolving body is the geometric plane in which its orbit lies. Three non- collinear points in space suffice to determine an orbital plane. A common example would be the positions of the centers of a massive body (host) and of an orbiting celestial body at two different times/points of its orbit.
On 17 July 1962, the North American X-15 rocket plane reached an altitude of 95.9km on a sub-orbital flight. In 1963, the X-15 completed two flights above 100km. [2] These marked the first spaceflights with a reusable vehicle. [a] The Gemini SC-2 capsule followed, making a sub-orbital flight in 1965 and another sub-orbital flight in 1966. [3]
The orbital plane is ideally constant, but is usually subject to small perturbations caused by planetary oblateness and the presence of other bodies. The spacecraft's position in orbit is specified by the true anomaly, ν {\displaystyle \nu } , an angle measured from the periapsis, or for a circular orbit, from the ascending node or reference ...
Orbital inclination is the angle formed between the plane of an orbit and the equatorial plane of the Earth. The geographic latitudes covered by the ground track will range from –i to i, where i is the orbital inclination. [4] In other words, the greater the inclination of a satellite's orbit, the further north and south its ground track will ...
For example, the s orbitals (ℓ = 0) are spherically symmetric and have no nodal planes, whereas the p orbitals (ℓ = 1) have a single nodal plane between the lobes. The number of nodal spheres equals n-ℓ-1 , consistent with the restriction ℓ ≤ n-1 on the quantum numbers.
Orbital mechanics is a core discipline within space-mission design and control. Celestial mechanics treats more broadly the orbital dynamics of systems under the influence of gravity, including both spacecraft and natural astronomical bodies such as star systems, planets, moons, and comets.
Spaceflight (or space flight) is an application of astronautics to fly objects, usually spacecraft, into or through outer space, either with or without humans on board.Most spaceflight is uncrewed and conducted mainly with spacecraft such as satellites in orbit around Earth, but also includes space probes for flights beyond Earth orbit.