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On October 1, sixty years ago, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration – better known as NASA – began operations, ushering in a new era of space exploration for the United States.
The space agency was born from its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics, created in 1915, in part because America lagged behind Europe in the field of aircraft technology.
Similarly, concerns that the Soviet Union would gain a technological advantage in the nascent space race after the launch of Sputnik in 1957 – the Earth's first artificial satellite – encouraged the creation of NASA in 1958.
In the decades since its creation, the agency has overseen many missions that have expanded our knowledge of the Earth, the solar system and the rest of the universe. NASA research has enriched science in countless areas and has led to tangible benefits for citizens and for the economy as a whole.
Here are some of his greatest achievements:
Kepler Space Telescope
Kepler is a space observatory launched by NASA in 2009, designed to search for exoplanets the size of the Earth. Named after mathematician and astrologer Johannes Kepler, this mission revolutionized our understanding of planets outside our solar system. To date, more than 2,300 confirmed exoplanets have been identified, while thousands of potential candidates have been discovered. According to the Kepler mission data, scientists estimate that there could be up to 40 billion rocky exoplanets the size of the Earth in habitable areas. Sun-like stars and red dwarfs in the Milky Way.
New Horizons
New Horizons is an interplanetary spacecraft launched in 2006 as part of NASA's New Frontiers program. In July 2015, he became the first spaceship to explore the dwarf planet Pluto, retransmitting close-up images that display the icy world with unprecedented detail. On subsequent voyages, New Horizons also recorded valuable data on solar winds – charged particles emitted by the sun – in unexplored areas beyond Pluto. He has now traced his trajectory for a mysterious object called MU69 in the Kuiper belt, located in the outermost regions of the solar system.
Apollo 11 Moon landing
On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first human being in history to set foot on the surface of the moon, or anywhere else, in what was arguably the greatest achievement in the history of the American space program. Ten Apollo missions, testing various aspects of the operation, were conducted before Apollo 11 finally reached the moon. Five subsequent Apollo missions, up to December 1972, also allowed astronauts to land on the Moon – a feat that never happened again.
Viking program
In 1975, the Viking program launched two spacecraft, which became the first to land and operate successfully on the surface of Mars. Each spacecraft was composed of two main parts: an orbiter designed to photograph the planet from an orbit and a lander exploring the surface. The Viking mission transformed our knowledge of water on Mars through the discovery of various geological forms, such as previously unknown river valleys.
The Hubble Space Telescope
The Hubble Space Telescope was launched in 1990, providing scientists with a clear first glimpse of the regions of the universe beyond our galaxy, without any interference that traditional ground-based telescopes capture in the atmosphere and weather conditions. With a resolution 10 times higher and 50 times greater sensitivity than ever before, Hubble has provided and continues to provide some of the most spectacular images of the cosmos. This even proved the theory of astronomer Edwin Hubble – the telescope's namesake – that the Universe is expanding.
Chandra X-ray Observatory
The X-ray Observatory Chandra is the most powerful X-ray telescope with a sensitivity 25 times greater than that of its closest rival. It uses high energy particles, especially x-rays, instead of visible light, which allows scientists to image objects in the space that would not be visible with Hubble. Launched in 1999, Chandra provided us with detailed images of spectacular celestial phenomena such as exploding stars, quasars and nebulae.
Pioneer 10
In 1972, the Pioneer 10 mission became the first spacecraft to reach an outer planet in the solar system, proving that humanity was not confined by the asteroid belt that surrounds the four planets land. It took the first close-up photos of Jupiter before gathering data on solar winds, cosmic rays and the confines of the solar system. And in 1983, he went into history by becoming the first object created by man to overtake Pluto's orbit.
Voyager Program
On September 5, 1977, NASA's Voyager 1 satellite is launched, marking the beginning of an extraordinary journey. Forty years later, the probe drifts through interstellar space at nearly 40,000 mph, at 13 billion kilometers. Meanwhile, his sister aircraft, Voyager 2, launched two weeks ago, trails just behind 11 billion kilometers from its starting point. Together, the two Voyager probes – the most distant artifacts from Earth – revolutionized our understanding of the solar system, becoming the first to fly over the four outer planets, among many other achievements.
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