SpaceX, American aerospace company founded in 2002 that helped usher in the era of commercial spaceflight. It was the first private company to successfully launch and return a spacecraft from Earth orbit and the first to launch a crewed spacecraft and dock it with the International Space Station

Steve Carell: The Morning Show and Broadway debut: …then cocreated and starred in Space Force (2020–22), a Netflix sitcom about the creation of an interstellar branch of the military. In 2020 he appeared in Irresistible, a political satire written and directed by Stewart; Carell played a consultant working on a mayoral race in a small Midwestern town. He…

space frame, Three-dimensional truss based on the rigidity of the triangle and composed of linear elements subject only to compression or tension. Its simplest spatial unit is a tetrahedron having four joints and six members. A space frame forms a very strong, thick, flexible structural fabric that

space group, in crystallography, any of the ways in which the orientation of a crystal can be changed without seeming to change the position of its atoms. These changes may involve displacement of the whole structure along a crystallographic axis (translation), as well as the point group operations

Space Invaders, arcade game created by Japanese engineer and game designer Nishikado Tomohiro in 1978 and produced by Japanese electronic game manufacturer Taito Corp. The objective of Space Invaders, which was one of the earliest video games released, is to pan across a screen and shoot descending

Bugs Bunny: …Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988), Space Jam (1996), and Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021). His likeness is marketed extensively on commercial products.

Bugs Bunny: … (1988), Space Jam (1996), and Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021). His likeness is marketed extensively on commercial products.

space debris, artificial material that is orbiting Earth but is no longer functional. This material can be as large as a discarded rocket stage or as small as a microscopic chip of paint. Much of the debris is in low Earth orbit, within 2,000 km (1,200 miles) of Earth’s surface, though some debris

space station, an artificial structure placed in orbit and having the pressurized enclosure, power, supplies, and environmental systems necessary to support human habitation for extended periods. Depending on its configuration, a space station can serve as a base for a variety of activities. These

crystal: Structures of metals: The most common lattice structures for metals are those obtained by stacking the atomic spheres into the most compact arrangement. There are two such possible periodic arrangements. In each, the first layer has the atoms packed into a plane-triangular lattice in which every atom has six immediate neighbours.…

Artemis: The Space Launch System (SLS) is one of the largest and most powerful rockets ever built. Its central stage is powered by four liquid-hydrogen–liquid-oxygen engines. Flanking the central stage are two solid rocket boosters that would fall away two minutes after launch. The central stage would…

launch vehicle, in spaceflight, a rocket-powered vehicle used to transport a spacecraft beyond Earth’s atmosphere, either into orbit around Earth or to some other destination in outer space. Practical launch vehicles have been used to send crewed spacecraft, uncrewed space probes, and satellites

space law, the body of regulations in international law that governs conduct in and related to areas of space above Earth’s lower atmosphere. The evolution of space law began with U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s introduction of the concept into the United Nations in 1957, in connection with

aerospace medicine, specialized branch of medical science concerned with those medical problems encountered in human flight in the atmosphere (aviation medicine) and beyond the atmosphere (space medicine). The ultimate aim of this specialty is to promote the safety and effectiveness of humans while

Frederik Pohl: His most famous work, The Space Merchants (1953), was written in collaboration with Kornbluth. It tells the story of Mitchell Courtenay, a “copysmith star class” for a powerful advertising agency who is made head of a project to colonize Venus in order to create consumers in space. This chilling…

Milky Way Galaxy: Stellar motions: …complete knowledge of a star’s motion in space is possible only when both its proper motion and radial velocity can be measured. Proper motion is the motion of a star across an observer’s line of sight and constitutes the rate at which the direction of the star changes in the…

Seattle: City layout: …contains the 605-foot- (184-meter-) high Space Needle, Seattle’s best-known landmark, as well as McCaw Hall (home of the Seattle Opera), Climate Pledge Arena, the Children’s Museum, the Museum of Pop Culture, and other public buildings. There the high-rise downtown cityscape gives way to the pleasant urban neighborhoods of Magnolia, which…

David Bowie: “Space Oddity,” the science-fiction single that marks the real beginning of his career, reached the top 10 in Britain in 1969 but did not become an American radio staple until some years later, though Bowie had cannily pegged its original release to the Apollo 11…

science fiction: Space travel: …has been invested in “space opera,” science fiction at its most romantic. The space opera is an action adventure, commonly of galactic scale, of which the film cycle Star Wars (1977, 1980, 1983, 1999, 2002, 2005, 2015–17) is the best-known exemplar. It presents a unique type of “widescreen baroque,”…

space perception, process through which humans and other organisms become aware of the relative positions of their own bodies and objects around them. Space perception provides cues, such as depth and distance, that are important for movement and orientation to the environment. Human beings have

space exploration: Solar and space physics: The first scientific discovery made with instruments orbiting in space was the existence of the Van Allen radiation belts, discovered by Explorer 1 in 1958. Subsequent space missions investigated Earth’s magnetosphere, the surrounding region of space in which the planet’s magnetic field exerts…

extraterrestrial intelligence: Argument for extraterrestrial intelligence: In addition, space probes are trying to find evidence that the conditions for life might have emerged on Mars or other worlds in the solar system, thus addressing assumption 2. Proof of assumption 3, that thinking beings will evolve on some of the worlds with life, requires…

aerospace industry: The space age: …the Soviet and the American space industries had much the same origins and impetus. The development of intermediate-range and intercontinental missiles provided not only the critical electronic technologies but also the rockets necessary to boost small payloads into orbit. Thus, the launch of Sputnik in 1957 signaled not only Soviet…

spectroscopy: Angular momentum quantum numbers: This phenomenon is known as space quantization and was first demonstrated by two German physicists, Otto Stern and Walther Gerlach.

Donald Kent Slayton: He then founded and directed Space Services, Inc., a pioneering company that launched small satellites.

space shuttle, partially reusable rocket-launched vehicle designed to go into orbit around Earth, to transport people and cargo to and from orbiting spacecraft, and to glide to a runway landing on its return to Earth’s surface that was developed by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space

motion sickness, sickness induced by motion and characterized by nausea. The term motion sickness was proposed by J.A. Irwin in 1881 to provide a general designation for such similar syndromes as seasickness, train sickness, car sickness, and airsickness. The term, though imprecise for scientific

aerospace industry: Spacecraft, launch vehicle, and missile development: …two types of simulators: the space simulator, which duplicates all the environmental conditions in which the spacecraft will operate, and the mission simulator, which permits carrying out the entire range of maneuvers and system operations that might be performed on an actual flight.

space station, an artificial structure placed in orbit and having the pressurized enclosure, power, supplies, and environmental systems necessary to support human habitation for extended periods. Depending on its configuration, a space station can serve as a base for a variety of activities. These

International Space Station (ISS), space station assembled in low Earth orbit largely by the United States and Russia, with assistance and components from a multinational consortium. The project, which began as an American effort, was long delayed by funding and technical problems. Originally

human-factors engineering: Space suit: The designing of a much more complicated device, such as a space suit, presents more intricate problems. A space suit is a complete miniature world, a self-contained environment that must supply everything needed for an astronaut’s life, as well as comfort. The suit…

space tourism, recreational space travel, either on established government-owned vehicles such as the Russian Soyuz and the International Space Station (ISS) or on vehicles fielded by private companies. Since the flight of the world’s first space tourist, American businessman Dennis Tito, on April

space shuttle, partially reusable rocket-launched vehicle designed to go into orbit around Earth, to transport people and cargo to and from orbiting spacecraft, and to glide to a runway landing on its return to Earth’s surface that was developed by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space

space exploration, investigation, by means of crewed and uncrewed spacecraft, of the reaches of the universe beyond Earth’s atmosphere and the use of the information so gained to increase knowledge of the cosmos and benefit humanity. A complete list of all crewed spaceflights, with details on each

Ronald McNair: …first person to perform a space walk without being tethered to a spacecraft. McNair operated the shuttle’s robotic arm to move a platform on which an astronaut could stand. This method of placing an astronaut in a specified position using the robotic arm was used on subsequent shuttle missions to…

Mira Sorvino: …movies included Union Square (2011), Space Warriors (2013), Quitters (2015), and The Red Maple Leaf (2016). In 2019 she appeared in the action comedy Stuber.

space weather, conditions in space caused by the Sun that can affect satellites and technology on Earth as well as human life and health. As modern civilization has become more dependent on continent-sized electric power distribution grids, global satellite communication and navigation systems, and

space weather: Forecasting: government has developed a Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) as part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The SWPC is based in Boulder, Colo., and observes the Sun in real time from both ground-based observatories and satellites in order to predict geomagnetic storms. Satellites stationed at geosynchronous orbit…

meteorite: Association of meteorites with asteroids: …set of processes collectively called space weathering that were responsible for both the low sulfur measurement of Eros and the mismatch between the spectra of chondrites and S-class asteroids.

Samuel Alexander: …a comprehensive system published as Space, Time and Deity (1920), his only major work. It explains the world as a single cosmic process with space-time as the basic cosmic matrix. “Emergents” (Gestalt-like properties) periodically arise as higher syntheses. Space-time thus produced matter, and matter in turn gave rise to mind…

space-based solar power, the collection in space of solar energy, which is then transmitted as a microwave or laser beam to the ground and converted into electrical energy. The idea of space-based solar power predates the space age. Konstantin Tsiolkovsky proposed in 1923 that space-based mirrors

telephone: Digital switching: …this point are classified as space-division switches. Space-division switches are characterized by the fact that the speech path through a telephone switch is continuous throughout the exchange. That speech path is a metallic circuit, in the sense that it is provided entirely through the metallic contacts of the switch. Other…

number game: Pathological curves: …is “one-dimensional” and thus cannot fill a given space, it can be shown that the curve produced by continuing the stages in Figure 8, when completed, will pass through every point in the square. In fact, by similar reasoning, the curve can be made to fill completely an entire cube.

warning system: Space surveillance: …allied to warning systems are space-object detection and tracking systems. It is likely that only the United States and the Soviets have developed and operate these systems. A variety of very large radars are used, although the newer installations are phased-array radars that have stationary antennas with electronically steerable multiple…

space-time, in physical science, single concept that recognizes the union of space and time, first proposed by the mathematician Hermann Minkowski in 1908 as a way to reformulate Albert Einstein’s special theory of relativity (1905). (Read Einstein’s 1926 Britannica essay on space-time.) Common

Mel Brooks: Films of the 1980s and 1990s: Similarly disappointing were Spaceballs (1987), a takeoff on the Star Wars series, and Life Stinks (1991). Brooks then directed Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993), a send-up of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), in which Kevin Costner had starred (and was generally maligned) as the legendary outlaw…

spacecraft, vehicle designed to operate, with or without a crew, in a controlled flight pattern above Earth’s lower atmosphere. Although early conceptions of spaceflight usually depicted streamlined spacecraft, streamlining has no particular advantage in the vacuum of space. Actual vehicles are

Simon Pegg: Career: …characters in the British sitcom Spaced (1999–2001), which he developed with Hynes. Pegg and Hynes costarred in the series, which was directed by Wright and has become a cult classic in Britain in the years since its release. The show focused on the escapades of aspiring artist Tim Bisley (Pegg)…

spaceflight, flight beyond Earth’s atmosphere. This article deals with the basic concepts associated with the launch and return of unmanned and manned spacecraft and their travel, navigation, and rendezvous and docking in space. For the development of space travel and discussions of spacecraft and

Sissy Spacek is an American actress who is known for her ability to convey genuineness in a range of critically admired roles. Spacek grew up in rural Texas, and, following high school, she moved to New York City in 1967 to pursue a career as a singer. While there she stayed with a cousin, actor

Sissy Spacek is an American actress who is known for her ability to convey genuineness in a range of critically admired roles. Spacek grew up in rural Texas, and, following high school, she moved to New York City in 1967 to pursue a career as a singer. While there she stayed with a cousin, actor

Spacelab, European-built system of pressurized modules that was used on 16 space shuttle missions from 1983 to 1998. These modules were carried in the space shuttle’s payload bay. In 1973 the European Space Research Organisation (which became the European Space Agency [ESA] in 1975) suggested it

William Kingdon Clifford: ” He showed that spaces of constant curvature could have several different topological structures.

SpaceShipOne (SS1), the first private crewed space vehicle, which flew past the boundary of space (100,000 metres, or 328,000 feet) over the United States in 2004 in competition for the Ansari X Prize. Inspired by the Orteig Prize won by Charles Lindbergh for his solo flight across the Atlantic in

Burt Rutan: In 2009 Virgin Galactic unveiled SpaceShipTwo, a craft designed to make suborbital tourist flights beginning in 2012; however, that date was subsequently pushed back.

Ronald McNair: …first person to perform a space walk without being tethered to a spacecraft. McNair operated the shuttle’s robotic arm to move a platform on which an astronaut could stand. This method of placing an astronaut in a specified position using the robotic arm was used on subsequent shuttle missions to…

electronic game: From chess to Spacewar! to Pong: Martin Graetz, and others created Spacewar! (1962) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). This game began as a demonstration program to show off the PDP-1 (Programmed Data Processor-1) minicomputer donated by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) to MIT and the new Precision CRT Display Type 30 attached to it. This…

SpaceX, American aerospace company founded in 2002 that helped usher in the era of commercial spaceflight. It was the first private company to successfully launch and return a spacecraft from Earth orbit and the first to launch a crewed spacecraft and dock it with the International Space Station

Dragon, privately developed spacecraft built by the American corporation SpaceX and the first private spacecraft to carry astronauts to orbit. The first of two test flights was launched on December 8, 2010, and the second test flight, which carried cargo to the International Space Station (ISS),

Starship, spacecraft being developed by the American corporation SpaceX. Starship, with the Super Heavy launch vehicle, is the successor to SpaceX’s previous rockets: the Falcon 1, the Falcon 9, and the Falcon Heavy. The Super Heavy first stage would be capable of lifting 100,000 kg (220,000

Kevin Spacey is an American actor on stage and screen, especially known for his dynamic roles in dark comedies. When Spacey was a young boy, his family moved frequently, ultimately settling in southern California. In high school he began taking drama classes and subsequently appeared in numerous

animal social behaviour: Social interactions involving movement: The benefits of forming dispersal swarms, flocks, and coalitions are considered similar to the advantages of living in aggregations as both exploit the potential benefits of living in groups. Moving about in groups can provide additional advantages, such as the reduction in turbulence and energy savings accrued by geese…

fighter aircraft: VII and the French Spad were attaining speeds of 135 miles (215 km) per hour. Most of these were biplanes made of wooden frames and cloth skins, as were many of the standard interwar fighters.

Chris Farley: Movies: Billy Madison and Tommy Boy: In 1995 Farley starred with David Spade in Tommy Boy, which depicted the real-life rapport between the two best friends. The film received mixed reviews but became a cult classic. The two comedians then appeared in Black Sheep (1996), about a political aide (Spade) who must babysit a candidate’s bumbling…

Sam Spade, fictional character, the quintessential hard-boiled private detective, the protagonist of a novel (The Maltese Falcon, 1930) and several short stories by Dashiell

philodendron: Major species: Larger types include the spade-leaf philodendron (P. domesticum), with triangular leaves up to 60 cm (24 inches) long, and the tree philodendron (P. bipinnatifidum), with deeply cut leaves up to 1 metre (3 feet) long, both of which are striking plants that require considerable indoor space.

spadebill, any of six species of New World flycatchers (family Tyrannidae, order Passeriformes) whose triangular bill is very broad and flat. The white-throated, or stub-tailed, spadebill (Platyrinchus mystaceus), scarcely 10 centimetres (4 inches) long, is the most widespread species; it inhabits

spadefish, (family Ephippidae), any of about 17 species of marine fishes (order Perciformes), predominantly tropical though also found in temperate regions. In appearance the spadefishes are deep-bodied and laterally compressed, with five or six vertical black bands on a silvery body. The vertical

spadefoot toad, relatively smooth-skinned amphibian of either the Old World genus Pelobates or of the genera Scaphiopus and Spea of North America. All spadefoot toads are classified in the family Pelobatidae. Spadefoot toads have a broad, horny “spade” projecting from the inside of each hind foot

James Spader is an American actor known for playing morally ambiguous, deviant characters. Some of his best-known roles have been in the films Pretty in Pink (1986), Wall Street (1987), and sex, lies, and videotape (1989) and in the television series Boston Legal (2004–08) and The Blacklist

James Spader is an American actor known for playing morally ambiguous, deviant characters. Some of his best-known roles have been in the films Pretty in Pink (1986), Wall Street (1987), and sex, lies, and videotape (1989) and in the television series Boston Legal (2004–08) and The Blacklist

spades, trick-taking card game of the whist family that became very popular in the United States in the 1990s, though reportedly some 40 years old by that time. It is played by four players in bridge-style partnerships, each being dealt 13 cards one at a time from a standard 52-card deck. Spades

spades: …or diamond but not a spade. Whoever plays the highest club wins the trick and leads to the next. Tricks are played in the usual way, except that trump (spades) may not be led until at least one player has used a spade to trump a trick when unable to…

archaeology: Excavation: …read books as Leonard Woolley’s Spadework (1953) and Digging Up the Past (1930) and Geoffrey Bibby’s Testimony of the Spade (1956) might appear to give credence to that view. Actually, much of the work of excavation is careful work with trowel, penknife, and brush. It is often the recovery of…

cephalopod: Reproduction and life cycles: …of Nautilus is termed the spadix.

angiosperm: Inflorescences: …the Araceae is called a spadix, and the underlying bract is known as a spathe. A catkin (or ament) is a spike in which all the flowers are of only one sex, either staminate or carpellate. The catkin is usually pendulous, and the petals and sepals are reduced to aid…

spaghetti, thin, straight, cylindrical pasta of Italian origin, the most popular of all pastas eaten today. Noodles made of wheat and eggs were known in the Mediterranean world in antiquity, but the pasta we know as spaghetti—which takes its name from the Italian spaghetto, “little cord”—was

eel: Annotated classification: Family Moringuidae (spaghetti eels) Anus in posterior half of body, degenerate, burrowing. 2 genera with about 6 species. Tropical Indo-Pacific and western Atlantic. Suborder Muraenoidei Frontal bones of skull paired, scales absent; reduced gill arch elements and reduced lateral line. Family Chlopsidae (Xenocongridae)

Guns N’ Roses: The 1993 album The Spaghetti Incident? generated further controversy by including a song written by mass murderer Charles Manson.

Clint Eastwood: Early life and career: …westerns (popularly known as “spaghetti westerns”) directed by Sergio Leone: Per un pugno di dollari (1964; A Fistful of Dollars), Per qualche dollari in più (1965; For a Few Dollars More), and Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo (1966; The Good, the Bad and the Ugly).

Rome: Piazza di Spagna: Running roughly southeast from the Piazza del Popolo, the Via del Babuino leads to the Piazza di Spagna (Spanish Square). An obelisk there was erected in 1857 to commemorate the 1854 promulgation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. The fountain there,…

José de Ribera was a Spanish painter and printmaker, noted for his Baroque dramatic realism and his depictions of religious and mythological subjects. He was born in Spain but spent most of his life in Italy. Little is known of his life in Spain, though he is said by the painter and biographer

Giuseppe Maria Crespi was an Italian Baroque painter who broke dramatically with the formal academic tradition to achieve a direct and immediate approach to his subject matter that was unparalleled at the time. Better known as a painter of genre scenes (pictures of everyday life), he also applied

Pedro Berruguete was the first great Renaissance painter in Spain and the father of Alonso Berruguete, the greatest Spanish sculptor of the 16th century. Berruguete is believed to have studied under Fernando Gallego or Colantonio and to have worked about 1474 at the “studiolo” of Federico da

sipahi, feudal cavalryman of the Ottoman Empire whose status resembled that of the medieval European knight. The sipahi (from Persian for “cavalryman”) was holder of a fief (timar; Turkish: tımar) granted directly by the Ottoman sultan and was entitled to all of the income from it in return for

Tate murders: …were arrested at their base, Spahn Ranch in Death Valley, accused of stealing vehicles and burning equipment. One of those arrested implicated Atkins in an earlier murder, and Atkins, while jailed, boasted to cellmates of the Tate murders. By year’s end all of the killers had been arrested.

Warren Spahn was an American professional baseball player whose total of 363 major-league victories established a record for left-handed pitchers. His feat of winning 20 or more games in each of 13 seasons also was a record for left-handers. He set still another mark by striking out at least 100

Warren Spahn was an American professional baseball player whose total of 363 major-league victories established a record for left-handed pitchers. His feat of winning 20 or more games in each of 13 seasons also was a record for left-handers. He set still another mark by striking out at least 100

Salvador de Madariaga y Rojo: …analysis of Cervantes’ classic; and Spain (1942), a historical essay. He also published books on various periods in Latin-American history, among them Cuadro histórico de las Indias, 2 vol. (1945; The Rise and Fall of the Spanish American Empire), and the trilogy Christopher Columbus (1939), Hernán Cortés (1941), and Simón…

Spain, country located in extreme southwestern Europe. It occupies about 85 percent of the Iberian Peninsula, which it shares with its smaller neighbour Portugal. Spain is a storied country of stone castles, snowcapped mountains, vast monuments, and sophisticated cities, all of which have made it a

Pablo Neruda: Communism and poetry: …España en el corazón (1937; Spain in My Heart) to express his feelings of solidarity with them. The book was printed by Republican troops working with improvised presses near the front lines.

Ángel Ganivet y García: …is the Idearium español (1897; Spain, an Interpretation), an essay that examines the Spanish temperament and the historical basis of the political situation of his country. In this essay he asserts that Spaniards are basically stoical and that the country has wasted its energies on territorial aggrandizement. He maintains that…

Spain: Finance: The central bank is the Banco de España (Bank of Spain). Having complied with the criteria for convergence, Spain joined the economic and monetary union of the EU in 1998, and the Banco de España became part of the European System of Central Banks. In addition to being the government’s…

chronology: Christian: The Era of Spain was based on an Easter cycle that began on January 1, 716 AUC (38 bc), marking the completion of the Roman conquest of Spain. First recorded in the 5th century, it was in general use in Visigothic Spain of the 6th and…

horizontally striped red-yellow-red national flag with an off-centre coat of arms. Within Spain private citizens may display the flag without the coat of arms. The flag’s width-to-length ratio is 2 to 3.Many symbols used today by Spain have origins that, according to tradition, stretch back for

Spain: Pre-Roman Spain: Human fossils in Spain belong to modern humans (Homo sapiens), the Neanderthals (H. neanderthalensis), and even earlier members of the human lineage, possibly H. erectus or H. heidelbergensis. A large number of bones have been recovered from caves at Atapuerca, Burgos, which come…

Atlanta Braves: Origins in Boston and the Braves’ first World Series championship: …dominant pitchers, Warren Spahn and Johnny Spain, who inspired the slogan “Spahn and Spain and pray for rain.”

Spain, country located in extreme southwestern Europe. It occupies about 85 percent of the Iberian Peninsula, which it shares with its smaller neighbour Portugal. Spain is a storied country of stone castles, snowcapped mountains, vast monuments, and sophisticated cities, all of which have made it a

blind mole rat, (subfamily Spalacinae), any of eight species of burrowing rodents living in the eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea regions. Among the several rodents referred to as “mole rats” (see zokor), the blind mole rat is among the most molelike in form, having a furred, cylindrical body,

Spalacotherium, extinct genus of primitive, probably predaceous, mammals known from fossils found in European deposits dating from the late Jurassic and early Cretaceous periods (some 160 million –100 million years ago). The genus Spalacotherium has a symmetrodont dentition, characterized by molar