Civil Space Flight

From the Sun to Pluto and Beyond

Johns Hopkins APL’s Civil Space Flight Mission Area delivers critical spaceflight hardware to NASA, international partners, and other U.S. government civilian agencies. We are responsible for all APL civil space flight programs in development and operations and is APL’s primary civil space sponsor interface. We pride ourselves on delivering first-of-their-kind, one-of-a-kind spaceflight hardware within cost and schedule constraints.

Since the dawn of the Space Age, APL has pushed the frontiers of space science. We captured the first picture of Earth from space, invented navigation by satellite, dispatched spacecraft across the solar system that are exploring regions around our Sun to Pluto and beyond, and successfully conducted the world’s first planetary defense test mission.

Our work includes design, fabrication, and operation of premier space science instruments, novel space systems, and advanced space technology.