Unmanned space mission

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    非载人宇宙飞船（英语Unmanned space mission），相对于载人宇宙飞船的称谓。

    Unmanned space missions are those using remote-controlled spacecraft. Many space missions are more suitable for unmanned missions rather than manned space missions, due to lower cost and lower risk factors. The first such mission was Sputnik I, launched October 4, 1957. Since the early 1970s, most unmanned space missions have been based on space probes with built-in mission computers, and as such may be classified as embedded systems. Some people prefer to use gender-neutral terms such as unpiloted or uncrewed space missions, although the terms are less popular than "unmanned" (as of 2005).

    Unmanned space missions have been flown by many countries. Most American unmanned missions have been coordinated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and European missions by the European Space Operations Centre, part of ESA (the European Space Agency). The ESA has conducted relatively few space exploration missions (one example is the Giotto mission, which encountered comet Halley). ESA has, however, launched various spacecraft to carry out astronomy, and is a collaborator with NASA on the Hubble Space Telescope. There has been a large number of very successful Russian space missions. There have also been a few Japanese,Chinese and Indian missions.

    Unmanned space missions may be divided into two classes: artificial satellites, which orbit the Earth, and space probes, which leave Earth's orbit to explore other worlds. See the relevant articles for more information.