60 years of NASA | Get to know the history and projects of the US Space Agency



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When we talk about space exploration, the first name that comes first is NASA, but that is not always the case. The history of the National Administration of Aeronautics and Space began with violent disputes between the United States and the Soviet Union over the conquest of space

Under Soviet pressure, responsible for launching the world's first artificial satellite, the United States investing in technologies for the race to space. Feeling threatened by Russian power, the Americans decided to found a national agency to administer the country's non-military space activity.

In the middle of the Cold War, US President Dwight David Eisenhower signed the decree that gave birth to NASA on July 29, 1958. However, the beginning of his work took place on October 1 of the same year.

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Leaving behind, going further

Although the USSR launched the first artificial satellite in the orbit of the Earth (Sputnik), took the first animal (the Laika bitch) and the first no one in the space (the cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin), through NASA the United States have achieved a feat is the first to bring humanity to the moon.

Leaving aside discussions about the truth of events, between July 16 and July 24, 1969, the Apollo 11 mission became a history of space exploration. At the time, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin accomplished the feat of leaving their marks on the lunar floor, posing the United States flag on Earth's natural satellite. More than 500 million people watched the images on television.

The First Missions

But it was not so simple to take man to the Moon: before that, NASA began its missions with the Mercury program. From 1959, during the program, which lasted until 1963, six releases were made. The first unmanned tests allowed NASA to fly quickly with monkeys. With the success of the missions, Mercury made the first launch with astronauts, which happened on February 20, 1962.

At the time, NASA was also creating the Gemini program, which had 10 teams and remained active between 1961 and 1966. The 12 missions of the program were focused on preparing the technology needed to bring man to the moon.It was during the Gemini era that the United States United took the leadership against the Soviet Union in space exploration

Photo: NASA)

"A small step for a man, a giant step for humanity" [19659005] After many tests and studies, NASA has launched the Apollo program, the most famous in its history. The project was inaugurated in 1961 when President John F. Kennedy announced that the United States would lead the first man to walk on the moon by the end of the decade. For eight years, the missions were more timid in ensuring that the feat was accomplished successfully, until Neil Armstrong achieved the feat in 1969.

The Apollo program continued in the operation. The last mission, Apollo 17, took the last humans to Earth's natural satellite: Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans and Harrison Schmitt, in the year 1972. Only one year

Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin , the astronauts of the Apollo 11 mission (Photo: NASA)

Reaching other planets

Even in their early years of existence, NASA began working to reach the goal. other planets in the solar system. The Mariner program, which survived between 1962 and 1973, was responsible for flying over Mars, sending the first artificial satellite to the red planet and reaching the planet Mercury.

At the same time, the Pioneer program had a total of 20 missions. During the Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 missions, NASA was able to fly over Jupiter and Saturn, collecting information about the giants of the solar system.

Other milestones in the history of NASA have been the Viking Project and the Helios Program. In the first, in 1975, the Viking 1 and Viking 2 spacecraft landed on Mars, collecting photographs and new information about the planet. In the second, the same year, Helios-A left the Earth towards the Sun.

Mariner 5 Probe, launched in 1967 to explore Venus (Photo: NASA)

Voyager: Beyond the Solar System

In 1977, the Space Agency launched the Voyager program, which continues to operate until today. That year, two probes were launched in order to explore Jupiter, Saturn and its natural satellites. Despite this, the probes proved much more resilient than previously thought, becoming able to reach Neptune and Uranus and leave the solar system in 2013.

One expects to What objects continue to travel in space until the decade Because of the success of the missions, the Voyager program was known worldwide as representing the possibility of finding extraterrestrial life.

Probes carry gold discs with photographs, music, greetings in different languages, as well as data. (19659011) Hubble Space Telescope and Space Station (Photo: NASA)

Hubble Space Telescope (NASA)

Hubble International Space Telescope and Space Station (ISS)

One of NASA's great landmarks was the construction of the Hubble Space Telescope, one of the most important telescopes of all time. Designed and built in the 1970s and 1980s, the telescope is able to detect both visible light and infrared light.

Image of Mars recorded by the Hubble Telescope (Photo: NASA)

Also in the 1990s, more precisely in 1998, NASA and the Hubble Space Telescope. Space agencies from Russia, Europe, Canada and Japan have joined forces to build the International Space Station (ISS).

International Space Station (ISS) (Photo: NASA)

New Frontiers Discovery Program and Program

Based on intergovernmental agreements, the station is responsible for space research, observations and missions. In 1994, the discovery program worked for wide exploration of the universe through the collaboration of the scientific community. In order to work more efficiently, the program focuses on the development of several small missions, which requires less time (up to 36 months) and resources for accomplishment. Because of its variety, the program consists of different missions to explore the planets and their moons, as well as comets, asteroids, etc.

Among the probes and missions launched in the discovery program, NEAR recently asteroids; Mars Pathfinder, responsible for placing the first rover on Martian soil; Dawn, as concentrated on the celestial bodies in orbit; Stardust, Genesis and Kepler, who watch the stars as the Sun.

Since 2003, NASA has also been investing in the New Frontiers program to explore the different bodies of the solar system. The program has already worked with missions such as New Horizons to study Pluto and its moons and the Juno mission to explore the planet Jupiter system. In recent months, NASA has discussed its upcoming missions.

As you can see, the US agency has been working on different programs since its inception. In recent decades, NASA has been responsible for countless manned and unmanned missions, the launch of various satellites, the construction of advanced technologies, the arrival of humans on the moon and vast knowledge of the universe. What are the next steps for space exploration?

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