NASA
The beginning
NASA stands for National Aeronautics and Space Administration. It is our view into space from our homes. Without it, we wouldn’t have been able to go to the moon, or visit mars. It shows us what we look like from millions of miles away. NASA has some of the worlds best scientists and engineers working for them so that we can get the most accurate and precise information. Without NASA, we would have almost no idea whats beyond our planet. It has revealed to us the secrets of the cosmos, and whatever else is to come.
NASA was established on July 29th, 1958. It was originally established because the united states wanted to win the space race against the Soviet Union. The United States was so embarrassed when the Soviets launched the 1st satellite into orbit that they tried to launch one of their own. Well, it failed. The “spaceship” (named the Vanguard) got a few feet off of the ground and then exploded in the air. Luckily, America’s next attempt, the Explorer I, completed its orbit. The U.S. then decided that they needed a more organized approach to the whole space ordeal. In May of 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced that he wanted to set a goal of America putting a man on the moon by the end of the decade. Billions of dollars later, Neil Armstrong was on the moon on July 20th, 1969. The great space race had finally been won by America.
Project mercury
Another early objective of John F. Kennedy was to get a man into orbit as soon as possible. He tried out many spaceship designs before finding one successful. The space plane concepts were eliminated and the ballistic capsule was favored. This was called Project Mercury. 7 astronauts were selected from many candidates in test pilot programs. On May 5th, 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American in space on a spaceship called Freedom 7. After this, John Glenn became the first American to be launched into orbit. Glenn completed 3 orbits. The soviet union had not given up, though. They competed with their own space craft and launched it one month before the Americans did. They achieved an almost 4 day record flight.
Apollo missions
Twelve men had landed on the moon form 1969–1972. These missions were known as the Apollo missions. There was 6 space flights to get these men on the moon. 5 of these 6 flights had successful moon landings. One of the flights, Apollo 13, had an oxygen tank explosion in transit to the moon, which destroyed the modules ability to produce electrical power. This also meant that the life support system on the craft was disabled. The crew still managed to make it back to earth safely. Another setback for the Apollo Program was in 1967. There was a cabin fire on Apollo 1 that killed the entire crew during a prelaunch test. Luckily, the program recovered and flourished. It set many important milestones in Americas new space exploration era. Apollo 8 was the first space craft to orbit another celestial body, while Apollo 17, (the final mission), marked the 6th moon landing. During the missions, the spacecraft delivered 842 pounds of lunar soil and rocks back to earth, helping us understand the composition of the moon. The program laid the foundation for NASA’s spaceflight capability.
Space shuttle program
The space shuttle program became NASA’s main focus after the Apollo missions. They wanted to make mostly reusable space crafts. Four space shuttles were built by 1985. The first one to launch, called Columbia, happened 20 years after the first human space flight. The craft consisted of a main spaceplane orbiter with one external fuel tank and two solid fuel launch rocket on the side. The only part that was not reusable was the external fuel tank. Missions could last anywhere from 5–17 days and carry between 2 and 8 astronauts. The shuttle program had 135 missions and unfortunately had 2 disasters. Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003. On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight. It was the space shuttles 10th flight and it killed all 7 crew members. The craft disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean. It was caused by unusually cold conditions when the craft took off. A joint in the right solid rocket booster failed at lift off. The other craft, Columbia, disintegrated upon relaunch on February 1st, 2003. It also killed all 7 crew members. It was caused by damage to the wing due to debris. When Columbia re-entered the atmosphere, the damage allowed hot atmospheric gases to penetrate the heat shield and destroy the internal wing structure. This caused the spacecraft to become unstable and break apart over Texas and Louisiana. After both of these disasters, the program was suspended for more than 2 years. The program ended in 2011 with the landing of the Space shuttle Atlantis at the Kennedy space center. The program spanned 30 years and sent over 300 astronauts into space.
International Space Station
The current objective of NASA is building the International Space Station. It involves a Russian station, a Japanese station, a European station, and the American station, called Space Station Freedom. Originally, the U.S. wanted to build freedom alone. But, budget restraints led to the combined stations. The ownership of the craft is managed by treaties. Missions to the station are called ISS expeditions. These usually last around 6 months and 6 crew members embark on the expedition. The craft has been continuously occupied for 18 years and been visited by astronauts from 15 different nations. It is the largest artificial satellite in earths orbit. A spacecraft called the Soyuz delivers the crew members, stays docked at the station for the 6 months, then returns them home. The International Space Station program is expected to run until at least 2020, and may be extended past 2028.
Future
Without the development of NASA, we would be blind to what is out there. While we have only just begun to explore space, we have had a good start. We should be optimistic about the future. With new technology, hopefully we can continue to see further and further what is out there.
