NASA and all the world's space agencies send their astronauts into space for a specific mission in a given amount of time. They all return when their mission ends. Some have been up for a matter of 15 minutes, while others have been up for more than a year. It just all depends on their mission.
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The first space missions with human astronauts, such as the Apollo program, returned from the Moon to Earth between 1969 and 1972. Since then, astronauts have been continuously returning from space missions to various destinations such as the International Space Station.
The purpose of the Apollo space program was to land humans on the Moon and bring them back safely to Earth. It was a major milestone in space exploration and a demonstration of technological advancement and achievement during the Cold War era.
Near space, also known as near-Earth space, refers to the region of space around Earth that extends from the upper atmosphere to the edge of Earth's exosphere. It is characterized by its proximity to the planet and is an area where a mixture of atmospheric and space-like conditions exist. Near space is often studied for its potential applications in fields such as telecommunications, Earth observation, and scientific research.
The Soviet Union was the first nation to successfully send a man into space, Yuri A. Gagarin in the Vostok spacecraft which orbited Earth once before returning on the 12th of April 1961.
The US refers to the men and women who go into space as astronauts.
The space shuttle Enterprise was built by NASA as a test vehicle for the Space Shuttle program. It was not intended for spaceflight and was used for atmospheric approach and landing tests in the 1970s.