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Washington.- The National Administration of Aeronautics and Space ( NASA ) celebrates today its 60 Anniversary an important milestone that marks the moment the government began stargazing with as much scientific curiosity as military suspicion.
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Today, just sixty years ago, President Dwight Eisenhower signed the legislation that gave birth to the iconic space agency, although its implementation took place only on 1 October of the same year.
However, the history of NASA goes back more than half a century, to the dawn of aviation, when Washington created in 1915 the National Advisory Committee for Air Navigation. 39, aeronautics (NACA), whose main mission was to find practical solutions He did not just study flights in the atmosphere, his engineers and scientists began to study the rockets and spaceflights over time, explained the historian and advisor to Efe. The Pentagon for Air and Space Affairs, Richard Hallion
In 1926, the American physicist and inventor Robert Goddard attracted worldwide attention by successfully launching the first liquid propulsion rocket.
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This milestone was a scientific achievement of great value, but also an obvious military opportunity.
During the Second World War (193) 9-1945), Germany took a big step forward by developing ballistic missiles capable of traveling more than 300 kilometers, terrorizing the citizens of London
The name of the Apollo program was announced #OTD ] in 1960 at @NASA & # 39; s Industry Conference. The program could finally land 6 crews on the lunar surface, starting with Apollo 11 on July 20, 1969. Pictured: Gene Cernan during Apollo 17 (1972). # NASA60th pic.twitter.com/dZgKtjRsOp
– Office of the History of NASA (@NASAhistory)
29 July 2018
"At the end of the war, the development of rockets became a subject of great interest to the United States and the Soviet Union," said Hallion, adding that "c & rsquo; Was essentially the genesis ".
At that time, space research already had two clear aspects: a soldier, who aspired to develop rockets capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, and another scientist, He was trying to put a satellite in orbit.
Again, the Americans returned to the trailer and had to observe how, on October 4, 1957, the Soviets were crowned space with a satellite: Sputnik 1.
The new disappointment led the government to rethink what which should be the way forward in space research. Congress then decided to create a new agency that would merge NACA and the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA).
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