Talk:List of planetary probes

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[edit] Proposal to rename and extend scope

I propose that this page is renamed "List of space missions" (or something similar) as it includes non-planetary missions (sun, moon, asteroids, comets). Also propose it is extended to include things like Apollo, ISS, MIR, Skylab etc. - basically everything except satellite launches after they became routine. There doesn't seem to be any other comprehensive list of space missions all in one place (unless I missed it?), and it would be good to have one. Any thoughts? Matt 12:55, 17 September 2006 (UTC).

There are some technical difficulties with regard to deciding where to draw the line once we get away from interplanetary probes, and it looks like a bit of a Pandora's box. An exception are the Apollo missions to the moon which can easily be added to the Lunar probes section. After that, we have: manned earth orbiting missions, shuttle missions, geostationary satellites, low earth orbit satellites, objects sent to Earth-Moon Lagrangian points. Some of the difficulties are
  1. How do we choose at which date do we cut off. e.g. should Sputnik be included?
  2. At what height of orbit should we cut off. Presumably geostationary satellites are out, but this would also eliminate all manned missions excepto for a subset of the Apollos.
  3. How do we count manned orbital missions if we were to include them. E.g. there have been over a hundred space shuttle flights; what about the ISS, Mir etc.- are they counted as a single mission? What about the Soyuz launches to supply Mir and the ISS?
Deuar 16:37, 18 September 2006 (UTC)


I think that a common-sense "as-we-go" approach should be adopted, rather than trying to lay down strict rules in advance; I'm quite happy to voice an opinion, for what it's worth, on individual cases. Regarding the points you mention, my own view is that:

  • The Shuttle programme should be mentioned, but the individual launches can be handled by a link to List of space shuttle missions. We don't need to list them all here.
  • The Soyuz programme should be mentioned, with a link to Soyuz programme for the detail of all the launches.
  • "Space stations" (Skylab, Mir, ISS) should definitely be included. There's no need to get too hung up on whether it's counted as a single "mission", we can just have a subsection called "Space Stations" and list them there. I don't think that will confuse anyone. (Or maybe a better article title would be something like "Summary of Activities in Space", rather than "List of Space Missions"?)
  • Sputnik should definitely be individually mentioned, as should any other satellite launches of especial historical or scientific importance, such as Telstar. Later routine satellite launches can be handled with a note, perhaps giving an estimate of the total number of launches and types (e.g. comms, spy, mapping, GPS, scientific research etc.) and links to other articles where the details are listed, if that information is available.
  • The Apollo programme should very definitely be mentioned, as should the Gemini and Mercury programmes (which are just another couple I happened to think of at random!)

Matt 22:39, 18 September 2006 (UTC).

This looks like a list of all non-commercial space flights. It is likely a desirable thing to have, but I'm doubtful whether it should all be here − it's just that the present planetary probe list is already very long! A separate "list of space missions to Earth orbit" would be the better solution in my opinion. (the two such "sister" articles could mention each other at the top). Deuar 20:25, 19 September 2006 (UTC)
Actually, I'm having a rethink about this too. What I really want is a summary list of all "space activities" in one place - and not broken down by planet so that each flight potentially appears multiple times, as is the case in this article. So probably a separate article would be the answer. It would probably be shorter than this one. For example, a few of the entries would simply be something roughly like this:
Programme/Mission Country/Agency Main objective(s) Type Launch date(s)
Sputnik program Soviet Union Placing satellites in earth orbit Unmanned 1957–60
Apollo program NASA Moon landings Manned 1967–72
Voyager program NASA Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune flybys Unmanned 1977

If I get round to it I may have a go. Thanks for helping me to crystallise my thoughts! Matt 22:00, 19 September 2006 (UTC).

Now that sounds like a really useful list to me too. Have fun! :-) Deuar 15:08, 20 September 2006 (UTC)
Actually, digging around further, I see that there are already literally dozens of Wikipedia articles that contain various lists of space activities (some of them overlapping), which I was not aware of. I don't think any useful purpose would be served by adding yet another one! Oh well... Matt 14:00, 22 September 2006 (UTC).
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