NASA

he National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the U. S. national space agency. It was formed in 1958 for advanced aero­nautics research and space exploration. NASA is a federally funded organiza­tion, employing thousands of engineers, scientists, and professionals in aerospace research. Its work includes developing new airplanes and spacecraft and testing new technologies.

NASA has been associated with many of the most dramatic and historic episodes in the history of spaceflight-it achieved worldwide recognition in the 1960s when it sent astronauts to the Moon. NASA’s work continues into the twenty-first century, with manned spaceflights and with space probes that explore the Solar System. It is the world’s leading space agency, ahead of the Russian federal space agency and the European space agency.

NASA scientists and engineers are also engaged in research projects concerning transportation and the envi­ronment. Images taken from NASA sources, such as space telescopes and probes, have excited the imaginations of people around the world. NASA’s exten­sive educational and media programs provide information about space and space technology.

NACA

The predecessor to NASA was known as the National Advisory Committee for

Aeronautics (NACA), which was founded in 1915. This body was responsible for important early research into airplane flight, using research airplanes and wind tunnels. By modern standards NACA was small-in 1938 it had a staff of just over 400 people.

After World War II (1939-1945), NACA expanded its activities into the realm of supersonic flight, working closely with the U. S. Air Force on the record-breaking X-1 airplane and other projects. In the late 1940s, the Department of Defense urged scientists to work with the military on missile experiments. At the same time, scientists were pressing for rockets to be sent into space for research. President Dwight D. Eisenhower approved a plan to launch a science satellite as part of the International Geophysical Year, sched­uled for July 1957 to December 1958. The chosen rocket vehicle for the satel­lite launch was the Naval Research Laboratory’s Vanguard rocket.

The Vanguard Project was under­funded and slow to get off the ground. The United States was shocked when, in October 1957, news broke that the Soviet Union had beaten America into space by launching the world’s first arti­ficial satellite, Sputnik 1. Many people in the United States became concerned that there was a widening gap between Soviet and U. S. space science. American scientists quickly responded to the chal­lenge, launching the nation’s first satel­lite, Explorer 1, in January 1958. Despite this achievement, however, there were
calls for a new agency to drive forward the national effort in the “space race.”