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Sixty years ago, stimulated by competition with the Soviet Union, the United States created NASA, launching a journey that would take the Americans to the moon in a decade
. crushing failures in its efforts to push the frontiers of space exploration, including a deadly fire in 1967 that killed three and two deadly shuttle explosions in 1986 and 2003 that killed 14 people [19659003] Now, NASA is trying to redefine itself. an increasingly crowded field of international space agencies and commercial interests, with the aim of returning to the distant space.
These bold goals make rhetoric, but experts worry that the money is not there to meet deadlines. the moon in the next decade and March by the 2030s.
And the inability of NASA to send astronauts into space – a capacity lost in 2011 when the space shuttle program came to an end , as expected, after 30 years – is a While US private industries are working on new spacecraft, NASA still has to pay Russia $ 80 million per seat for US astronauts to go up in space on a capsule of Soyuz
– How it began – [19659008] In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first satellite in space with Sputnik 1, while American attempts failed miserably
US government was already working to reach the space, but mainly under the guise of the army.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower asked Congress to create a separate civil space agency to better focus on space exploration.
It promulgated the National Aeronautics and Space Authorization Act on July 29, 1958.
Doors in October 1958, with approximately 8,000 employees and a budget of $ 100 million. dollars.
– Space Race –
The Soviets won another key part of the space race in April 1961 when Yuri Gagarin became the first person to orbit the Earth.
A month later, John F. Kennedy unveiled plans to land a man on the moon at the end of the decade
"No single space project in this period will be more impressive for mankind , or more importantly for the long term.Exploring the range of space; "The Apollo program is born"
In 1962, astronaut John Glenn became the first American to gravitate around the Earth in 1969. In 1969, NASA astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon
American astronauts of the time were national heroes – military pilots with a combination of brains, courage and grime that became famous under the name of "The Right Stuff", the title of the classic book of Tom Wolfe
The words of Armstrong while he was stepping on the surface lunar – "a small step for the man, a giant step for humanity" – have been heard by millions of people around the world. John Logsdon, Professor Emeritus at the Space Policy Institute of George Washington University
"Kennedy has decided to use the space program as a manifest geopolitical competition instrument that has made NASA an instrument of national policy ., w In total, five percent of the national budget went to NASA in the Apollo era.
Now, NASA is receiving about $ 18 billion a year, less than $ 4 billion. half a percent "Logsdon says."
– New era –
More glory days followed in the 1980s with the birth of NASA's shuttle program, a reusable space bus-spacecraft that has transported astronauts into space, and finally to the international space station, which began operation in 1998.
But what is NASA today? [19659023] President Donald Trump advocated a return to the moon a footbridge read which would allow a continuous flow of spacecraft and people to visit the moon, and serve as a starting point for Mars.
Trump also called for the creation of a "Space Force," a sixth branch of the military that would focus on defending US interests.
NASA has long regarded as a world leader in space innovation, today the international field is much more populated than it was 60 years ago.
"Now you have something like 70 countries that are involved in one way or another in the space activity".
Rather than competing with international space agencies, "the emphasis has been on cooperation" to reduce costs and accelerate innovation, said Teasel Muir-Harmony, curator at the National Museum of Science and Technology. air and space
– "How can NASA benefit? –
Jim Bridenstine, NASA director, said at a recent roundtable that he wanted to work with other countries that are striving to conquer space .
He mentioned the possibility of strengthening cooperation with China.
Bridenstine said the reason for his visit was "how are you doing this, what are you doing and is there a way for NASA to take advantage of it?" [19659038] NASA moves away from the low Earth orbit, seeking to turn the space station over to commercial interests after 2024, and spending millions in seed capital to help private companies like SpaceX and Boeing to build capsules to transport humans in the years to come.
In this context, Bridenstine said that determining what NASA does, compared to what it buys as a service from commercial vendors, will be "one of the fundamental challenges I will have to to face during my term ".
Idenstine said Trump's budget requests for NASA were "very generous".
NASA plans to spend about $ 10 billion of its budget of nearly $ 20 billion for 2019 to five years of existence.
The predecessor of Bridenstine at NASA, retired astronaut Charles Bolden, warned of errors in the era of shuttles, when the United States ended their program. Human exploration without another satellite ready to take its place. 19659043] "We can not tolerate another gap like this," Bolden said.
"It is very important that NASA facilitates the success of commercial entities in low Earth orbit, some 400 miles planet.
" And then for NASA to do what it does so well. Be the leader of the lunar orbit. "
NASA struggles to redefine itself in an increasingly crowded field of international space agencies and commercial interests, and has the ambition to return to deep space
. Large-scale replica of the world's first artificial Sputnik satellite, which was launched by the Soviet Union from a range of testing in Kazakhstan on October 4, 1957
Neil Armstrong, photographed in a undated photo of NASA, became the first man to set foot on the moon
NASA lost the ability to send astronauts into space after the end of the space shuttle program in 2011
NASA moves away from the low Earth orbit, seeking to turn the space station over to commercial interests after 2024 private companies like SpaceX and Boeing
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