History of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

"One law for the investigation of the problems of flight within and outside the Earth's atmosphere, and for other purposes." With this simple preamble, Congress and the President of the United States created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on October 1, 1958, a direct result of the Sputnik crisis. The fledgling National Aeronautics and Space Administration body absorbed the former National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics intact: its 8000 employees, an annual budget of $ 100 million, three major research labs - Langley Aeronautical Laboratory, Ames Aeronautical Laboratory, and Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory - and two small test facilities. Soon after, NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) joined other organizations, including the space science group from the Naval Research Laboratory in Maryland, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory managed by the California Institute of Technology for the Army, and Army Ballistic Missile Agency in Huntsville, Alabama, the laboratory where Wernher von Braun's team of engineers were engaged in the development of large rockets. As it grew, the NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), established in other centers, and today has ten located around the country.

Early in its history, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was already seeking to put a human in space. Once again, the Soviet Union the U.S. beat to the punch when Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space on April 12, 1961. However, the gap was closing as on May 5, 1961, Alan B. Shepard Jr. became the first American to fly into space, when he rode his Mercury capsule on a 15-minute suborbital mission. Project Mercury was the first high-profile program of NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), which had as its goal placing humans in space. The following year, on February 20, John H. Glenn Jr. became the first U.S. astronaut to orbit the Earth.

Following in the footsteps of Project Mercury, Gemini continued NASA's human spaceflight program to and expanded its capabilities with spacecraft built for two astronauts. Gemini's 10 flights also provided NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) scientists and engineers with more data on weightlessness,perfected reentry and splashdown procedures, and demonstrated rendezvous and docking in space. One of the highlights of the program took place during the Gemini 4 on June 3, 1965, when Edward H. White, Jr. became the first U.S. astronaut to perform a spacewalk.

• Next page >> NASA History - NASA Crowning Achievement >> Page 1, 2, 3