NASA
Overview
 
For other uses, see NASA (disambiguation)
NASA (disambiguation)
NASA or Nasa may refer to:* NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration* National Association of Students of Architecture, India* National Auto Sport Association* North America and South America...

. For news about NASA, see Wikinews space portal or Unmanned NASA missions
Unmanned NASA missions
Following is a sampling of some of NASA's past and present programs excluding manned spacecrafts. The years in brackets are for first and latest launching. A program is a number of flights or missions with the same kind of satellite therefore the name of the program and the name of the satellite...

 (satellites).

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the agency of the United States government
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...

 that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics
Aeronautics
Aeronautics is the science involved with the study, design, and manufacturing of airflight-capable machines, or the techniques of operating aircraft and rocketry within the atmosphere...

 and aerospace
Aerospace
Aerospace comprises the atmosphere of Earth and surrounding space. Typically the term is used to refer to the industry that researches, designs, manufactures, operates, and maintains vehicles moving through air and space...

 research. Since February 2006, NASA's mission statement has been to "pioneer the future in space exploration
Space exploration
Space exploration is the use of space technology to explore outer space. Physical exploration of space is conducted both by human spaceflights and by robotic spacecraft....

, scientific discovery
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...

 and aeronautics research." On September 14, 2011, NASA announced that it had selected the design of a new Space Launch System
Space Launch System
The Space Launch System, or SLS, is a Space Shuttle-derived heavy launch vehicle being designed by NASA, following the cancellation of the Constellation Program, to replace the retired Space Shuttle. The NASA Authorization Act of 2010 envisions the transformation of the Ares I and Ares V vehicle...

 that it said would take the agency's astronauts farther into space than ever before and provide the cornerstone for future human space exploration efforts by the U.S.

NASA was established by the National Aeronautics and Space Act
National Aeronautics and Space Act
The National Aeronautics and Space Act is the United States federal statute that created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration . The Act, which followed close on the heels of the Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik, was drafted by the United States House Select Committee on Astronautics...

 on July 29, 1958, replacing its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics was a U.S. federal agency founded on March 3, 1915 to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. On October 1, 1958 the agency was dissolved, and its assets and personnel transferred to the newly created National Aeronautics and...

 (NACA).
Timeline

1915    NACA, the predecessor of NASA, is founded.

1958    U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs into law the National Aeronautics and Space Act, which creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

1958    NASA is created to replace NACA.

1958    Pioneer program: NASA launches the lunar probe Pioneer 1 (the probe falls back to Earth and burns up).

1959    Project Mercury: NASA announces the selection of the United States' first seven astronauts, whom the news media quickly dub the "Mercury Seven".

1959    President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs an executive order transferring Wernher von Braun and other German scientists from the United States Army to NASA.

1960    In Huntsville, Alabama, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally dedicates the Marshall Space Flight Center (NASA had already activated the facility on July 1).

1961    NASA launches the first Saturn I rocket in Mission Saturn-Apollo 1.

1962    Apollo Project: NASA announces plans to build the C-5 rocket booster. It became better known as the Saturn V moon rocket, which launched every Apollo moon mission.

1962    NASA's Ranger 4 spacecraft crashes into the Moon.

Quotations

For the benefit of all.

NASA motto.

To improve life here. To extend life to there. To find life beyond.

The NASA Vision

To understand and protect our home planet, To explore the universe and search for life, To inspire the next generation of explorers.

NASA Mission

Shaping the Future: Launching New Endeavors to Inspire the Next Generation of Explorers.

Motto of NASA's Office of Education

NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Where else but in Texas would men set up to administer space?

James Cameron (journalist)|James Cameron, in Cameron Country, broadcast on BBC TV, July 12, 1969.

 
x
OK