History of National Aeronautics and     Space Administration (NASA)

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), had beginnings based in both scientific pursuit and the military. Let's start from the first days and see how the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) started.

After the Second World War, the Defense Department launched serious research push into the fields of rocketry and upper atmosphere sciences to ensure American leadership in technology.

As part of this push, President Dwight D. Eisenhower approved a plan to orbit a scientific satellite as part of the International Geophysical Year (IGY) for the period from July 1 1957 to December 31 1958, a cooperative effort to collect scientific data about the Earth. Quickly, the Soviet Union jumped in, announcing plans to orbit its own satellites.

The Naval Research Laboratory's Vanguard project was selected on September 9 1955 to support the IGY effort, but while it enjoyed exceptional publicity throughout the second half of 1955, and all of 1956, the technological requirements in the program were too big and funding levels too small to ensure success.

The launch of Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957 pushed the U.S. satellite program in crisis mode. Playing technological catch-up, the United States launched its first Earth satellite on January 31, 1958, when Explorer 1 documented the existence of radiation zones encircling the Earth.

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"One law for the investigation of the problems of flight within and outside the Earth's atmosphere, and for other purposes." With this simple preamble, Congress and the President of the United States created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on October 1, 1958, a direct result of the Sputnik crisis. The fledgling National Aeronautics and Space Administration body absorbed the former National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics intact: its 8000 employees, an annual budget of $ 100 million, three major research labs - Langley Aeronautical Laboratory, Ames Aeronautical Laboratory, and Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory - and two small test facilities. Soon after, NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) joined other organizations, including the space science group from the Naval Research Laboratory in Maryland, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory managed by the California Institute of Technology for the Army, and Army Ballistic Missile Agency in Huntsville, Alabama, the laboratory where Wernher von Braun's team of engineers were engaged in the development of large rockets. As it grew, the NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), established in other centers, and today has ten located around the country.

Early in its history, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was already seeking to put a human in space. Once again, the Soviet Union the U.S. beat to the punch when Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space on April 12, 1961. However, the gap was closing as on May 5, 1961, Alan B. Shepard Jr. became the first American to fly into space, when he rode his Mercury capsule on a 15-minute suborbital mission.

Project Mercury was the first high-profile program of NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), which had as its goal placing humans in space. The following year, on February 20, John H. Glenn Jr. became the first U.S. astronaut to orbit the Earth.

Following in the footsteps of Project Mercury, Gemini continued NASA's human spaceflight program to and expanded its capabilities with spacecraft built for two astronauts.

Gemini's 10 flights also provided NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) scientists and engineers with more data on weightlessness,perfected reentry and splashdown procedures, and demonstrated rendezvous and docking in space. One of the highlights of the program took place during the Gemini 4 on June 3, 1965, when Edward H. White, Jr. became the first U.S. astronaut to perform a spacewalk.

The crowning achievement of NASA's early years was Project Apollo. When President John F. Kennedy announced "I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth," NASA was committed to putting a man on the moon.

The Apollo moon project was a massive effort that required significant expenditures, costing $25.4 billion, 11 years, and 3 lives to accomplish.

On July 20, 1969, Neil A. Armstrong made his now famous remarks, "That's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind" as he stepped onto the lunar surface during the Apollo 11 mission. After taking soil samples, photographs, and doing other tasks on the moon, Armstrong and Aldrin rendezvoused with their colleague Michael Collins in lunar orbit for a safe journey back to Earth. There were five more successful lunar landing of Apollo missions, but only a failed one rivaled the first for excitement. All totaled, 12 astronauts walked on the Moon during the Apollo years.

ABOUT  NASA

NASA’s mission is to pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research. To do that, thousands of people have been working around the world and in space for more than 50 years, trying to answer some basic questions. What’s out there in space? How do we get there? What will we find? What can we learn there – or learn just by trying to get there – that will make life better here on Earth?

Our work is diverse: proving flight technologies; creating capabilities for sustainable human and robotic exploration; exploring Earth, the solar system and the universe beyond; developing critical enabling technologies such as the Orion space capsule; and conducting science in orbit aboard the International Space Station. With NASA you can share exploration of the universe and discoveries of our home planet, Earth.

The History of Space Shuttle Challenger

The space shuttle Challenger, which was first called STA-099, was built to serve as a test vehicle for NASA's shuttle program. It was named after the British Naval research vessel HMS Challenger, which sailed the Atlantic and Pacific oceans during the 1870s. The Apollo 17 lunar module also carried the name of Challenger.

In early 1979, NASA awarded Space Shuttle orbiter manufacturer Rockwell a contract to convert STA-099 to a space-rated orbiter, OV-099.

It was completed and delivered in 1982, after construction and a year of intensive vibration and thermal testing, just as all its sister ships were when they were built. It was the second operational orbiter to become operational in the space program and had a promising future as an historic craft. 

Challenger's Flight History

On April 4, 1983, Challenger launched on her maiden voyage for the STS-6 mission. During that time, the first spacewalk of the space shuttle program took place. The Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA), performed by astronauts Donald Peterson and Story Musgrave, lasted just over four hours. The mission also saw the deployment of the first satellite in the Tracking and Data Relay System constellation (TDRS).

The next numerical space shuttle mission (though not in chronological order), STS-7, also flown by the Challenger, launched the first American woman, Sally Ride, into space.

ON STS-8, which actually occurred before STS-7, Challenger was the first orbiter to launch and land at night. Later, it was the first to carry two U.S. female astronauts on mission STS 41-G and made the first space shuttle landing at Kennedy Space Center, concluding mission STS 41-B. Spacelabs 2 and 3 flew aboard the ship on missions STS 51-F and STS 51-B, as did the first German-dedicated Spacelab on STS 61-A.

Challenger's Untimely End

After nine successful missions, the Challenger launched on STS-51L on January 28, 1986, with seven astronauts aboard. They were: Gregory Jarvis, Christa McAuliffe, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnik, Dick Scobee, and Michael J. Smith. McAuliffe was to be the first teacher in space. 

Seventy three seconds into the mission, the Challenger exploded, killing the entire crew. It was the first tragedy of the space shuttle program, followed in 2002 by the loss of the shuttle Columbia. After a lengthy investigation, NASA concluded that the shuttle was destroyed when an O-ring on a solid rocket booster failed, sending flames out toward the shuttles LOX (liquid oxygen) tank. The seal design was faulty, and it had gotten unusually cold during unseasonably chilly temperatures in Florida just prior to launnch day. Booster rocket flames passed through the failed seal, and burned through the external fuel tank. That detached one of the supports that held the booster to the side of the tank. The booster broke loose and collided with the tank, piercing its side. Liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen fuels from the tank and booster mixed and ignited, tearing Challenger apart.

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