Features

www.nasa.gov
NASA's website is the obvious starting point for anyone with an interest in space missions both past and present. All the latest news on the Phoenix Mars Lander mission can be found here, along with images and video. A mission calendar gives details of forthcoming launches, and the multimedia library of audio, video and images is the biggest on the web.

www.thespacerace.com
This enthusiast-run site focuses on the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programmes.

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The attention to detail includes dedicated pages for each astronaut involved, plus gems such as a copy of the speech to be read by President Nixon to the US nation had Apollo 11 been stranded on the moon.

www.esa.int
Read all the latest news on the International Space Station (ISS) and other European space projects. Highlights include dedicated sections on the benefits of the research being done on the ISS, a timeline of its construction and where it can be found in the night sky from any location in the world.

www.worldwidetelescope.org
Microsoft's free telescope software lets you explore the galaxy thanks to images taken from ground- and space-based telescopes. You can pan and zoom across the night sky, and the guided tours include an animated timeline of Mars exploration. Be warned: the system requirements are steep, and it demands plenty of your PC's resources.

Star Cores: Computers in space