Guidance: Aiming a spacecraft by controlling the direction of its rocket thrust at launch or any other time the rocket changes speed or direction
Navigation: Getting from one place to another while in space. This often involves long periods of coasting and short bursts from small rockets to change course.
Control: Orienting a spacecraft in its three axes of rotation (changing the direction it “faces”). This may be done to aim an antenna, correct course, or dock with another craft.
Caption:
Guidance, navigation, and control are three central facets of managing a craft in space.
Type: Illustration
Image Date: 2012
Credit: National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Origin: National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
