Editing Spacecraft (section)

=== Uncrewed spacecraft ===
{{Main|Uncrewed spacecraft|satellite|space telescope|cargo spacecraft}}
{{See also|Timeline of artificial satellites and space probes|list of Solar System probes|list of space telescopes}}
[[File:Hubble Space Telescope (27946391011).jpg|thumb|[[Hubble Space Telescope]]]]
[[File:Iss016e034191.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Jules Verne ATV|Jules Verne Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV)]] approaches the [[International Space Station]] on Monday, March 31, 2008.]]

Uncrewed spacecraft are spacecraft without people on board. Uncrewed spacecraft may have varying levels of autonomy from human input; they may be [[Remotely operated vehicle|remote controlled]], remote guided or even [[autonomous vehicle|autonomous]], meaning they have a pre-programmed list of operations, which they will execute unless otherwise instructed.

Many space missions are more suited to telerobotic rather than [[Human spaceflight|crewed]] operation, due to lower cost and lower risk factors. In addition, some planetary destinations such as [[Venus]] or the vicinity of [[Jupiter]] are too hostile for human survival. Outer planets such as [[Saturn]], [[Uranus]], and [[Neptune]] are too distant to reach with current crewed spaceflight technology, so telerobotic probes are the only way to explore them. Telerobotics also allows exploration of regions that are vulnerable to contamination by Earth micro-organisms since spacecraft can be sterilized. Humans can not be sterilized in the same way as a spaceship, as they coexist with numerous micro-organisms, and these micro-organisms are also hard to contain within a spaceship or spacesuit. Multiple space probes were sent to study Moon, the planets, the Sun, multiple small Solar System bodies (comets and asteroids).

Special class of uncrewed spacecraft is [[space telescope]]s, a [[telescope]] in outer space used to observe astronomical objects. The first operational telescopes were the American [[Orbiting Astronomical Observatory]], [[OAO-2]] launched in 1968, and the Soviet [[Orion (space telescope)|Orion 1 ultraviolet telescope]] aboard space station [[Salyut 1]] in 1971. Space telescopes avoid the filtering and distortion ([[Scintillation (astronomy)|scintillation]]) of [[electromagnetic radiation]] which they observe, and avoid [[light pollution]] which [[Observatory#Ground-based observatories|ground-based observatories]] encounter. The best-known examples are [[Hubble Space Telescope]] and [[James Webb Space Telescope]].

[[Cargo spacecraft]] are designed to carry [[cargo]], possibly to support [[space station]]s' operation by transporting food, propellant and other supplies. Automated cargo spacecraft have been used since 1978 and have serviced [[Salyut 6]], [[Salyut 7]], [[Mir]], the [[International Space Station]] and [[Tiangong program|Tiangong]] space station.