posted 07-29-2018 09:37 AM               

60 Years and Counting: President Eisenhower Signs NASA into Existence

Although NASA is best known for 60 years of engineering and scientific achievements, it originally came into being as a matter of national security. After the Soviets flew the first two Sputniks in 1957 and Sputnik 3 in 1958, the U.S. government saw space as important new political, if not military, battlefield and began to lay the course for a long-term space plan.

"It was almost as if a bomb had fallen" on Capitol Hill, Congressional staffer Eilene Galloway said in a 2000 oral history interview, "because we were so surprised that the Soviet Union was first. Both the United States and the Soviet Union had space projects in the International Geophysical Year, but our project was very small. It was a satellite that weighed a little more than three pounds, and the Soviet satellite [weighed 184 pounds and] really opened up outer space as the new environment, added to land, sea and air."

Scientists pushed President Eisenhower to make any new agency charged with overseeing space exploration a civilian agency, fearing military control would mean research only into military priorities

Congressional hearings on the matter, chaired by Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson (D-TX), began in November 1957 and continued for six weeks. Johnson asked Galloway, a defense analyst with the Legislative Reference Service, to summarize the Congressional testimony. Her report, titled "The Problems of Congress in Formulating Outer Space Legislation," recommended several options including creation of a new civilian agency to lead America's space efforts.

On April 2, 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent a draft law to Congress that called for a civilian National Aeronautics and Space Agency, based on the existing National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), to oversee the US space program. Twelve days later both the Senate and the House introduced versions of a bill to establish such an organization, with hearings beginning the next day. Galloway successfully lobbied to designate the new organization an Administration rather than an Agency to give it broader authority to coordinate with many other government agencies.

The House bill passed on June 2 and the Senate version on June 16. Senator Johnson chaired a bipartisan panel to produce a joint version of the bill, and met with the President following the July 4th holiday to resolve the remaining issues. Congress passed the final version of the bill, the National Aeronautics and Space Act, on July 16 and President Eisenhower signed it into law on July 29, 1958. The bill established eight objectives for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA):

1. The expansion of human knowledge of phenomena in the atmosphere and space;
   
2. The improvement of the usefulness, performance, speed, safety, and efficiency of aeronautical and space vehicles; Tea
   
3. The development and operation of vehicles capable of carrying instruments, equipment, supplies, and living organisms through space;
   
4. The establishment of long-range studies of the potential benefits to be gained from, the opportunities for, and the problems involved in the utilization of aeronautical and space activities for peaceful and scientific purposes;
   
5. The preservation of the role of the United States as a leader in aeronautical and space science and technology and in the application thereof to the conduct of peaceful activities within and outside the atmosphere;
   
6. The making available to agencies directly concerned with national defense of discoveries that have military value or significance, and the furnishing by such agencies, to the civilian agency established to direct and control nonmilitary aeronautical and space activities, of information as to discoveries which have value or significance to that agency;
   
7. Cooperation by the United States with other nations and groups of nations in work done pursuant to this Act and in the peaceful application of the results thereof;
   
8. The most effective utilization of the scientific and engineering resources of the United States, with close cooperation among all interested agencies of the United States in order to avoid unnecessary duplication of effort, facilities and equipment

Although the Act has been amended over the years, these eight objectives still describe the major functions of NASA today.

On Aug. 8, President Eisenhower nominated T. Keith Glennan, President of Case Institute of Technology in Cleveland, Ohio, and Hugh L. Dryden, Director of the NACA, to be NASA Administrator and Deputy Administrator, respectively. The Senate confirmed them a week later and they were sworn in at the White House on Aug. 19. NASA officially opened for business on Oct. 1, 1958, with its Headquarters at first occupying temporary office space at the Dolley Madison House in Washington, DC.

posted 08-15-2018 10:35 AM               

In the past 60 years, NASA has advanced our understanding of our solar system and beyond. We continually ask "What's out there?" as we advance humankind and send spacecraft to explore.

Congress passed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, on July 16 and President Eisenhower signed it into law on July 29, 1958. NASA opened for business on Oct. 1, 1958.

Our history tells a story of exploration, innovation and discoveries. The next 60 years, that story continues.

posted 08-29-2018 01:20 PM               

Aeronautics is our tradition. For 60 years, we have advanced aeronautics, developed new technologies and researched aerodynamics. Our advancements have transformed the way you fly. We will continue to revolutionize flight.

Congress passed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, on July 16 and President Eisenhower signed it into law on July 29, 1958. NASA opened for business on Oct. 1, 1958. Our history tells a story of exploration, innovation and discoveries. The next 60 years, that story continues.

posted 09-17-2018 12:53 PM               

Technology drives exploration. For 60 years, we have advanced technology to meet the rigorous needs of our missions. From GPS navigation to water filtration systems, our technologies developed for space improve your daily life on Earth.

Earth is a complex, dynamic system. For 60 years, we have studied our changing planet, and our understanding continues to expand with the use of new technologies. With data from satellites, instruments on the International Space Station, airborne missions, balloons, and observations from ships and on land, we track changes to land, water, ice, and the atmosphere. Application of our Earth observations help improve life now and for future generations.

posted 09-28-2018 01:41 PM               

It is part of the human spirit to explore. During 60 years, we have selected 350 people as astronauts to lead the way. For nearly two decades, humans have been living and working aboard the International Space Station in low-Earth orbit to enable future missions forward to the Moon and on to Mars while also leading discoveries that improve life on Earth.

posted 10-01-2018 12:00 AM               

Sixty years ago, NASA opened for business with first try at moonshot

Ten days after it officially began operations in 1958, NASA attempted its first moonshot.

Sixty years ago Monday (Oct. 1), NASA, or the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, opened for business, as authorized by Congress and President Dwight D. Eisenhower the previous July. The nascent civilian agency was tasked with planning, directing and conducting the nation's aviation and space activities.

As its first order of business, NASA launched an inherited mission — the second try by the U.S. to send a probe to the moon.

posted 10-01-2018 09:51 AM               

NASA: 60 Years in 60 Seconds

posted 10-01-2018 03:21 PM               

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine's message to the NASA workforce on the agency's accomplishments over six incredible decades, and future plans including missions to the Moon and on to Mars.