What Do You Know About NASA

NASA

In 1958, the Congress of the United States enacted, and the President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Act (NASA). The act begins with a very simple statement; "An Act to provide for research into the problems of flight within and outside the Earth's atmosphere, and for other purposes."
 

The Cold War between the United States and (what was) the Soviet Union was in full swing. With the passing and signing of the act that established NASA, what has come to be known as the "space race" was kicked off. The Soviet Union had launched Sputnik 1 and had an apparent head start in the race to space.

The United States caught up quickly. In January 1958, Explorer 1 (America's first earth satellite) was launched.

Then NASA launched human space flight initiatives with Mercury's single astronaut program (flights during 1961-1963) to determine if a human could survive in space.

The Project Gemini (flights during 1965-1966) with two astronauts to was used to practice space operations, like rendezvousing and docking spacecraft and extravehicular activity (EVA or space walks).

This was followed with Project Apollo (flights during 1968-1972) to explore the Moon. Since then NASA has conducted robotic missions to the Moon (Ranger, Surveyor, and Lunar Orbiter); Venus (Pioneer Venus), Mars (Mariner 4, Viking 1 and 2), and the outer planets (Pioneer 10 and 11, Voyager 1 and 2). 

NASA has had its problems over the years. The space shuttle Challenger blew up on January 28, 1986, killing seven astronauts. The space program was grounded for two years. Another tragedy happened on February 1, 2003, when the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated on re-entry. All seven people on board were killed instantly.

Space travel is not without its dangers, but space in the next great frontier for mankind to conquer. You can be sure that the space program and NASA will continue into the foreseeable future.