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Guided map tour · Space & Technology
LOCATION: Merritt Island, Florida, USA. BUILT: 1962 for the Apollo program. KEY LAUNCHES: Apollo 11 (1969), Space Shuttle (1981–2011), SpaceX Crew Dragon.…
Open this tour on the live map →LOCATION: Merritt Island, Florida, USA. BUILT: 1962 for the Apollo program. KEY LAUNCHES: Apollo 11 (1969), Space Shuttle (1981–2011), SpaceX Crew Dragon. Launch Complex 39A has sent more humans to space than any other pad on Earth. The Vehicle Assembly Building is one of the largest buildings by volume ever constructed — 129.4m tall, it…
LOCATION: Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas. ESTABLISHED: 1961 — NASA's hub for human spaceflight. ROLE: Mission Control has guided every U.S. crewed spaceflight since Gemini 4 (1965). "Houston, we've had a problem" — the most famous words in space history, spoken by Jack Swigert during Apollo 13 (1970). The Astronaut Corps is based…
LOCATION: Kazakhstan (leased by Russia). BUILT: 1955 — the world's first and largest space launch facility. HISTORIC FIRSTS: Sputnik (1957), Yuri Gagarin (1961), first spacewalk (1965). Gagarin's "Poyekhali!" ("Let's go!") launched the Space Age. The Soyuz rocket family — evolved from the R-7 ICBM — has over 1,900 launches, making it the…
LOCATION: Boca Chica, Texas — SpaceX's Starship development facility. THE ROCKET: Starship + Super Heavy — 121m tall, 33 Raptor engines, 7,590 tons of thrust. The most powerful rocket ever built. Designed to carry 100+ tons to orbit, or 100 passengers to Mars. The "chopstick catch" of the Super Heavy booster in October 2024 was watched…
LOCATION: Hainan Island, China — China's newest launch site. KEY MISSIONS: Tiangong space station modules, Chang'e lunar probes. China has built its own space station (Tiangong, "Heavenly Palace") operational since 2022. In 2019, Chang'e-4 became the first spacecraft to land on the far side of the Moon. China plans a crewed Moon landing…
LOCATION: French Guiana, South America. WHY HERE: Just 5° from the equator — Earth's rotation gives rockets a free speed boost of 460 m/s. KEY ROCKETS: Ariane 5 (116 consecutive successes), Ariane 6 (2024), Vega. The European Space Agency (ESA) has launched from Kourou since 1979. Ariane 5 deployed the James Webb Space Telescope on…
LOCATION: Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Andhra Pradesh, India. KEY ACHIEVEMENT: Chandrayaan-3 lunar landing (August 23, 2023) — India became the 4th country to land on the Moon. India's Mars Orbiter Mission (2014) cost just $74 million — less than the movie "Gravity." ISRO's PSLV rocket has launched 400+ satellites for 36 countries.…
LOCATION: Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. ROLE: Polar orbit launches — spy satellites, Earth observation, military missions. Vandenberg is the only U.S. launch site that can reach polar orbits without flying over populated land. It launches classified NRO (National Reconnaissance Office) satellites that provide intelligence…
LOCATION: Amur Oblast, Russian Far East. BUILT: 2016 — intended to reduce Russia's dependence on Baikonur (in Kazakhstan). Russia's most ambitious space infrastructure project since the Soviet era. The cosmodrome will launch Angara rockets and eventually a new Super Heavy rocket for lunar missions. Russia plans to leave the ISS by 2028…
THE FINAL FRONTIER — mapped from Earth. KEY STATISTICS: • Total humans who have been to space: 700+ • Countries with independent launch capability: 10 (USA, Russia, China, India, Japan, ESA, Iran, N.Korea, S.Korea, Israel) • Active satellites in orbit: 10,000+ (50% Starlink) • Cost to reach orbit: $2,720/kg (SpaceX) vs. $54,500/kg (Space…
Write down two facts you learned about this place.
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Find this place on a blank map: which country and continent is it in?
Write down two facts you learned about this place.
Why does this place matter? Explain in one or two sentences.
Find this place on a blank map: which country and continent is it in?
Write down two facts you learned about this place.
Why does this place matter? Explain in one or two sentences.
Find this place on a blank map: which country and continent is it in?
Write down two facts you learned about this place.