The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) is is a small space observatory that will study the moon's thin atmosphere and dust above the lunar surface. 

NASA's LADEE spacecraft is scheduled for launch in early 2013.

To carry out the mission, NASA will send a robotic spacecraft into orbit around the Moon, and use instruments aboard the spacecraft to study the Moon's atmosphere and dust in the Moon's vicinity. Instruments will include a dust detector, a neutral mass spectrometer, an ultraviolet-visible spectrometer, and recently announced, a laser communications (lasercomm) terminal.

LADEE was announced during the presentation of NASA's FY09 budget in February 2008. It will be launched aboard a Minotaur V from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport.

The Space Shuttle was a partially reusable launch system and orbital spacecraft operated by the NASA for human spaceflight missions.

The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons. The first of four orbital test flights occurred in 1981 leading to operational flights beginning in 1982. It was used on a total of 135 missions from 1981 to 2011 all launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

The Space Shuttle at launch consisted of the Orbiter Vehicle (OV), one external tank (ET), and two Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs). The orbiter decelerated in the atmosphere before flying like a glider but with reaction control system thrusters before landing on a long runway.

The final Space Shuttle mission was in July 2011 to deliver parts to the International Space Station (ISS).

Langley Research Center (LaRC) is the oldest of NASA's field centers, located in Hampton, USA.

It directly borders the Langley Air Force Base. LaRC focuses primarily on aeronautical research, though the Apollo lunar lander was flight-tested at the facility and a number of high-profile space missions have been planned and designed on-site.

The Google Lunar X PRIZE, abbreviated GLXP, sometimes referred to as Moon 2.0, is a space competition organized by the X Prize Foundation, and sponsored by Google.

It was announced at the Wired Nextfest on 13 September 2007. The challenge calls for privately-funded spaceflight teams to compete in successfully launching, landing, and then traveling across the surface of the Moon with a robot, while also sending back to Earth specified images and other data.

Moon Express, or MoonEx, is a privately held early stage company formed by a group of Silicon Valley and space entrepreneurs, with the goal of winning the Google Lunar X Prize, and ultimately mining the Moon for resources of economic value.

The Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) is an American organisation dedicated to Earth & space science education. It is fostering national & international cooperation in global Earth observations.

Morpheus Lander is a NASA project to develop a vertical take off and landing test bed vehicle.

The NASA designed robotic lander can land 500 kg of cargo on the Moon. It was manufactured and assembled at NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) and Armadillo Aerospace's facility near Dallas, USA. The prototype lander is a "spacecraft" that is about 3.0 m in diameter, weighs approximately 1,000 kg and consists of four silver spherical propellant tanks topped by avionics boxes and a web of wires.

A Robonaut is a dexterous humanoid robot built and designed at NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, USA.

Robonaut differs from other current space-faring robots in that, while most current space robotic systems (such as robotic arms, cranes and exploration rovers) are designed to move large objects, Robonaut's tasks require more dexterity.

The core idea behind the Robonaut series is to have a humanoid machine work alongside astronauts.

The challenge is to build machines that can help humans work and explore in space. Working side by side with humans, or going where the risks are too great for people, Robonauts will expand our ability for construction and discovery. Central to that effort is a capability called dexterous manipulation, embodied by an ability to use one's hand to do work. The challenge is to build machines with dexterity that exceeds that of a suited astronaut.

Robonaut version R2 flew on the ISS, delivered by STS-133, in Feb 2011.

Dongfanghong (东方红), meaning The East is Red, is a space satellite program for the People's Republic of China.

This program started in 1970. Satellites in this series were placed in either low Earth orbit or geostationary orbit and carried out a variety of purposes: testing, remote sensing, telecommunications, meteorology, and scientific studies. While most Chinese satellites are named as part of the Dongfanghong series, others are singularly named or part of the AsiaSat or Apstar series.

The Baikonur Cosmodrome, also called Tyuratam, is a very large space launch facility.

It is located in the desert steppe of Kazakhstan, about 200 kilometres  east of the Aral Sea. It is leased by the Kazakh government to Russia (as of 2012 : until 2050) and is managed jointly by the Russian Federal Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS) and the Russian Space Forces. The shape of the area leased is an ellipse, measuring 90 kilometres  east-west by 85 kilometres  north-south, with the cosmodrome at the centre. It was originally built by the Soviet Union in the late 1950s as the base of operations for its space program.