National Aeronautics and Space Administration

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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which started in 1958, is the agency that deals with the United States' public space program, as well as studies in military aerospace. Its main headquarters are in Houston, Texas.

[change] Aims

NASA's vision is "to improve life here, extend life to there, and to find life beyond". Its mission is "to understand and protect our home planet; to explore the Universe and search for life; and to inspire the next generation of explorers".

[change] History

After the launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik in 1957, the United States quickly turned its attention to its failing space projects. In 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a bill leading to the creation of NASA. The number of members was small when it started.

The first NASA projects (in the early 1960s) studied human spaceflight, amid competition with the Soviets in the Space Race that took place during the Cold War.

Such successes in the Mercury and Gemini programs led to the Apollo mission, in which astronauts were sent to the Moon.