Haven’t we been down this road before? Didn’t I already do a 60th Birthday post for NASA earlier this year?
Yes, yes I did. However, that post was for the July 29th, 1958 formation of NASA as an agency, the signing of the National Aeronautics and Space Act. In the 2 months following that date in 1958, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was transformed into the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and began operational activities under that name and with new, refined goals, having also absorbed several previously military space projects and multiple research facilities.
From October 1st, 1958, onward, we went from barely being able to orbit satellites to getting men to the Moon just 10 and half years later. We launched a space station, Skylab, in 1973. In 1981 the reusable Space Shuttle came into operation and things became routine, or as routine as they can be given the nature of things.
We sent probes to the Moon, to Venus, to Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Mercury and just a few years ago to Pluto and beyond! We worked with the Soviet Union and later Russia on joint projects in orbit with Apollo-Soyuz, MIR, and eventually the International Space Station.
The Launch of the Space Shuttle Columbia on STS-1
Through budget cut after budget cut, and even now reaching a stage where they seem forced to have other companies take over many of the tasks they once dominated in, NASA still continues with more missions to other worlds happening at once than I could have imagined as a child, and with future plans like Orion and SLS coming, the future is looking quite bright.
Here’s to another 60 years and beyond! Go NASA!
https://www.nasa.gov/specials/60counting/overview.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA
