NASA is a US government agency that manages the civilian space program. Its mission is to advance human understanding of the universe and improve aviation capabilities. Founded in 1958, it has sent manned and unmanned flights to the moon and other planets, collected data, and conducted scientific experiments. It also works on making space more accessible and fosters international cooperation. Its budget can run into the billions and it has tens of thousands of employees.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an American government agency that manages the civilian arm of the space program. The purpose of this agency is to increase human understanding of the solar system and the universe that contains it and to improve American aviation capabilities. According to its charter, NASA is supposed to be a peacetime agency that does not perform military functions, although it cooperates with the military and many employees have military backgrounds. To achieve this, the agency has an annual budget that can run into the billions to fund programs and pay tens of thousands of employees.
NASA was founded in 1958, in response to the Soviet launch of Sputnik in 1957. The organization’s early years were driven by Cold War competitiveness, and it worked rapidly towards creating rockets that would enable manned spaceflight. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first humans to set foot on the moon in 1969, an action considered a major victory for the US Air Force. Building on this early success, NASA continued the development of aeronautical equipment designed to operate outside the Earth’s atmosphere.
After the moon landing, NASA focused on research around the solar system, sending an assortment of manned flights to the moon to gather material for study and unmanned drones to other planets to gather data. These flights have collected large amounts of data which is constantly being added and analysed. Scientific progress is an important part of its mission. With agency assistance, scientists were able to conduct experiments in the zero-gravity environment of space and test hypotheses about the universe.
NASA also continues to work on a program to make space more accessible. By the time the space shuttle program ended in 2011, 135 flights had taken place with astronauts from many nations, including the United States. Two of these flights, Challenger and Columbia, were lost. The agency plans to resume manned flights in the future after a new space transport vehicle is developed.
As part of its mission as a Pacific agency, NASA works with agencies in the United States and international aviation agencies. Usually a US astronaut is aboard the International Space Station, and astronauts from other nations are welcome to attend NASA events. It is hoped that this fostering of international cooperation will continue as humans explore space and the possibility of off-Earth human settlements becomes possible.
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