A Look Back at NASA’s 60 Years
60 years ago, on October 1st, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration — famously called NASA — began their operations, welcoming a new era of space exploration for the United States.
NASA was born out of another organization called, the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics, which was formed in 1915, partly because America was lagging behind Europe in the realm of airplane technology.
Comparably, the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik 1 in 1957 — the first artificial Earth satellite, which caused America to worry that the country would gain a technological advantage in the early space race and thus also lead to the creation of NASA in 1958.
In the years since its inception, the agency has overseen various missions which have expanded our knowledge of Earth, the Solar System, and the rest of the universe. Meanwhile, NASA research has enriched science in numerous fields and led to real-world benefits for both citizens and the economy.
Asgardia benefits from these scientific contributions and welcomes more and more knowledge and discovery as we work towards setting up habitable platforms in low-Earth orbit.
To celebrate sixty years here are some of NASA’s most significant accomplishments:
Kepler Space Telescope
In 2009 NASA launched Kepler, a space observatory built to look for Earth-sized exoplanets. Named after the mathematician and astrologer Johannes Kepler, the mission has transformed our understanding of planets outside our solar system. As of today, it has detected over 2,300 confirmed exoplanets and uncovered thousands of possible candidates. Based on data from the Kepler mission, scientists believe there could be as many as 40 billion rocky, Earth-sized exoplanets in the habitable zones of Sun-like stars and red dwarfs in the Milky Way alone.
New Horizons
An interplanetary space probe known as New Horizons was launched in 2006 as part of Nasa’s New Frontiers program. In July 2015, it became the first spacecraft to study the dwarf planet Pluto, sending back close-up images which displayed this celestial body in exceptional detail. As it travels, New Horizons has recorded invaluable data on the solar winds — charged particles given off by the sun — in the unexplored areas beyond Pluto. Currently, it has set its trajectory for a mysterious object called MU69 in the Kuiper belt, situated in the outermost regions of the solar system.
Apollo 11 Moon landing
Neil Armstrong became the first human being ever to set foot on the surface of the moon, on July 20th, 1969 in what was arguably the most significant accomplishment in the history of the US space program. There were ten Apollo missions, which tested different aspects of the operation, performed before Apollo 11 finally reached the moon. Five Apollo missions after that, running until December 1972, also landed astronauts on the moon — an achievement that has never been repeated.
Viking Programme
The Viking program launched two spacecraft in 1975, the first to successfully land and operate on the surface of Mars. Each of the spacecraft was made up of two main parts — an orbiter built to photograph the planet from orbit, and a lander which studied the surface. The Viking mission revolutionized our knowledge of water on Mars via the discovery of different geological forms, like the vast, previously unknown river valleys.
Hubble Space Telescope
28 years ago, in 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope was launched, giving scientists the first clear peek into the regions of the universe beyond our galaxy, without any of the interference that traditional ground-based telescopes pick up from the earth’s atmosphere and weather. With ten times the resolution and 50 times the sensitivity of anything that had come before, Hubble gave, and continues to give, some of the most stunning images of the cosmos. It has even helped prove the theory put forward by astronomer Edwin Hubble — the telescope’s namesake — that the Universe is expanding.
Have you been passionate about space as long as you can remember? Then join Asgardia todayand let your voice be heard!
When preparing news, materials from the following publications were used:
https://www.newsweek.com/nasa-60th-anniversary-these-are-space-agencys-greatest-achievements-1144127
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Source: Asgardia Space News
