Right now, there are several spacecrafts exploring our Universe. You can build paper versions of many of them right here on Earth.

Paper modeling - or card modeling - is the art of constructing things with only colored, cut and folded pieces of paper. To help in constructing each model, you will need the free Adobe Reader to print the instructions and model parts. A link to adobe.com is provided with each model.

Remember: Spacecraft construction is a team activity. Get some friends and an adult to pitch in on the mission. Now pick a ship to start your space fleet (or click on the spacecraft name to find out what the mission is all about).

Build Your Own Universe Exploration Fleet
	Chandra X-Ray Telescope This Model is Rated: Easy 68 KB PDF, 11 pages Requires Adobe Reader It will print on 8 1/2 x 11 paper The third of the Great Observatories was launched in 1999 into Earth orbit. As one of the most sophisticated x-ray observatories ever built, it observes x-rays from high-energy regions of the Universe.
	Compton Gamma Ray Observatory This Model is Rated: Easy 348 KB PDF, 37 pages Requires Adobe Reader It will print on 8 1/2 x 11 paper The second of the Great Observatories was launched in 1991 into Earth orbit, and safely de-orbited in 2000. The observatory helped astronomers learn about the most powerful celestial bodies and events in the Universe. It observed gamma-ray bursts, and high temperature emissions from black holes.
	Fermi This Model is Rated: Easy 1.9 MB PDF, 7 pages Requires Adobe Reader It will print on 8 1/2 x 11 paper The Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope is an international multi-agency mission that launched in 2008. It is studying the cosmos looking at object that emit high energy wavelengths of light.
	Gravity Probe B This Model is Rated: Moderately Challenging 6 MB PDF, 8 pages Requires Adobe Reader It will print on 8 1/2 x 11 paper Launched in 2004 Gravity Probe B was a relativity experiment developed to test predictions of Einstein’s general theory of relativity. Using small gyroscopes, the spacecraft measured how space and time are warped by the presence of the Earth, and how the Earth’s rotation drags space-time around with it.
	Hubble Space Telescope This Model is Rated: Moderately Challenging 5.8 MB PDF, pages Requires Adobe Reader It will print on 8 1/2 x 11 paper The first of the Great Observatories was deployed from the Space Shuttle Discovery into Earth orbit in April 1990. It is the product of two decades of research and development by 10,000 scientists and engineers at various NASA centers, private companies, universities, and the European Space Agency. The purpose of Hubble is to study the cosmos from low-Earth orbit.
	Hubble Space Telescope This Model is Rated: Challenging 12.07 MB PDF, 30+ pages Requires Adobe Reader It will print on 8 1/2 x 11 paper This expert paper model consists of around 300 pieces and will take approximately 30 hours to complete. It has extremely accurate 3-D representations of details ranging from the cryocoolers to handrails. It reflects the state of the telescope after Servicing Mission 3B, which took place in March 2002.
	James Webb Space Telescope This Model is Rated: Easy 3.3 MB PDF, 35 pages Requires Adobe Reader It will print on 8 1/2 x 11 paper Launching in 2013, the JWST will be the premier infrared telescope of the next decade. An international collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), JWST will study from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of solar systems.
	Kepler This Model is Rated: Easy 713 KB PDF, 12 pages Requires Adobe Reader It will print on 8 1/2 x 11 paper Launched on March 6, 2009, the Kepler mission will detect potentially life-supporting planets around other stars. Kepler is poised to find planets 30 to 600 times less massive than Jupiter.
	Spitzer Space Telescope This Model is Rated: Moderately Challenging 1.6 MB PDF, 15 pages Requires Adobe Reader It will print on 8 1/2 x 11 paper The fourth of the great observatories was launched in 2003 into trailing Earth orbit. Spitzer will obtain images and spectra by detecting the infrared energy, or heat, radiated by objects.
	Swift This Model is Rated: Moderately Challenging 15.2 MB PDF, 32 pages Requires Adobe Reader It will print on 8 1/2 x 11 paper Launched in 2004, the Swift spacecraft is in Earth orbit. Swift detects gamma-ray bursts and then relays the burst’s location to ground stations, allowing both ground-based and space-based telescopes around the world the opportunity to observe the burst’s afterglow.
	WISE This Model is Rated: Easy 148 KB PDF, 1 page Requires Adobe Reader It will print on 8 1/2 x 11 paper Launching in 2009, the WISE spacecraft is in Earth orbit. WISE will image the entire sky using an infrared-sensitive telescope to study the coolest and dimmest stars, asteroids, and the most luminous galaxies.