page_title: Space exploration
section_title: See also
hierarchical_section_title: Space exploration / See also
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo of Ganymede, obtained by the Galileo spacecraft, with enhanced contrast. This is a crop of Image:The Galilean satellites (the four largest moons of Jupiter).tif (PIA01299) Here is the description from JPL's web entry for PIA00716 (http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA00716): Natural color view of Ganymede from the Galileo spacecraft during its first encounter with the satellite. North is to the top of the picture and the sun illuminates the surface from the right. The dark areas are the older, more heavily cratered regions and the light areas are younger, tectonically deformed regions. The brownish-gray color is due to mixtures of rocky materials and ice. Bright spots are geologically recent impact craters and their ejecta. The finest details that can be discerned in this picture are about 13.4 kilometers across. The images which combine for this color image were taken beginning at Universal Time 8:46:04 UT on June 26, 1996. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA manages the mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. This image and other images and data received from Galileo are posted on the World Wide Web, on the Galileo mission home page at URL http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov. Background information and educational context for the images can be found at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo.
context_page_description: Space exploration is the use of astronomy and space technology to explore outer space. While the exploration of space is carried out mainly by astronomers with telescopes, its physical exploration though is conducted both by unmanned robotic space probes and human spaceflight. Space exploration, like its classical form astronomy, is one of the main sources for space science.
  While the observation of objects in space, known as astronomy, predates reliable recorded history, it was the development of large and relatively efficient rockets during the mid-twentieth century that allowed physical space exploration to become a reality. Common rationales for exploring space include advancing scientific research, national prestige, uniting different nations, ensuring the future survival of humanity, and developing military and strategic advantages against other countries.
  The early era of space exploration was driven by a "Space Race" between the Soviet Union and the United States.
context_section_description: Discovery and exploration of the Solar System
  In-space propulsion technologies
  List of crewed spacecraft
  List of missions to Mars
  List of missions to the outer planets
  List of spaceflight records
caption: Ganymede (moon)
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